Last month was my friend’s birthday. Instead of doing the usual part we decided that we should try something different this time round. After weeks of research on the best place to be and what to do we settled down for the Lord Erroll.
We chose the place because, one – it was something new. Never had we ever decided to do dinner on any of our birthday’s ever since the beginning of time. Normally, being typical Kenyans , birthday’s meant long nights of drinking and sampling out clubs in the city, discovering new drinking joints and so on.
We wanted somewhere chilled and relaxed, away from our usual, and Lord Erroll being located inside the posh Runda estate, automatically disqualified all the other places that we had thought of, and secondly none of us had ever been to the place.
I don’t know how easily accessible it is when using a jav. That day I was driving and google maps came in handy that day. Yay! to google maps. I can write a whole paragraph about how helpful google maps is.. but then again that would be digressing and we don’t want to go there… or do we?
Now if you hear a restaurant is located in a posh area, your mind automatically brings you to the land of Utopia. The place is beautiful indeed. Starting with the polished mahogany floors, large veranda going around the whole house which opens up to a lush and well manicured lawn to the various artworks done by various Kenyan artists all over the place, entwining the colonial english and modern Kenyan feel. We were lucky enough not to miss the warm evening sun as it shone on the area bringing out the hidden beauty of the area.
The service at Lord Erroll was exceptional; starting from the lady who received us at the reception who was more than willing to show us to our seats, especially when she noticed we were a bunch of rookies in the area, where she handed us to our waiter…who was more than kind to us. (At this point I wish I remembered his names), took us through what they have on the menu and what it was, thus simplifying our choice of meal.
For our starter, we had some onion rings that was accompanied with tartar sauce, assorted bread , assorted butter…
the starter pack
Assorted Bread
Assorted Butter
I didn’t mention this because I can’t remember what it is… It was yum!
onion rings with the tartar sauce
The food took 20 – 30 minutes to be prepared from the time we ordered. Everything was going on well, the cool breeze, the ambiance, the laughter’s from the hilarious stories we had and watching the moon as it settled in to its position, not until when the food was placed on the table.
I had ordered some grilled lamp chops and some potato lyonnaise, Janet decided to go with the grilled snapper fillet and some parsley potatoes as the accompaniment while Kiki (The Birthday Girl) went for the Duck a l’orange with some lyonnaise potatoes.
Grilled Lamp Chop with the Lyonnase Potatoes **Price- Kshs 1700**
Snapper Fillet with grilled parsley potatoes **Price- Kshs 1700**
Duck a L’orange with the Lyonnase Potatoes **Price- kshs 2000**
To start with the food was too little as you will see from the pictures above, the potato lyonnase were over fried they were as crunchy as potato crisps(I didn’t like them at all), the lamp chops were okay the quantity though… For Janet her meal was not as appetizing as she had expected. Both the fish and parsley potatoes didn’t have enough salt , for Kiki, yes the lyonnase potatoes were over fried as stated earlier and the duck was under seasoned leave alone it’s presentation on the plate. All in all, I would say I didn’t get value for my money compared to what we got and the excitement that had built up at the beginning just melted away. Underwhelmed is an understatement.
I must say I was pretty dissappointed with how the food turned out to be. We launched our complains and I hope something was done about it.
Will I be returning there? – For the food? I don’t think so. Though I will be looking out for other people’s reviews over time and see if the food has improved. Maybe then I will go back. Otherwise the ambience is spectacular.
As always happy reading.
PPS : I have no personal or professional affiliation with Lord Erroll.
***Lot’s of Love***
I’d be happy to read about your restaurant experiences..both good and horrible.
