Oasis,
Southern Sun Mayfair, Parklands Road
My other
restaurant jaunt courtesy of Nairobi Restaurant Week saw a bunch of us settle
for Oasis at the Southern Sun Mayfair hotel. To be honest, after a lot of
back-and-forth over whatsapp groups, my vote for Oasis was simply because their
menu had FOUR desserts on offer. I must have been in serious need of a sugar
fix because the thought of having the wonderful opportunity to choose from two
kinds of cheesecake or chocolate mousse totally won me over—sod the fruit
medley (a fruit salad is a fruit salad is a fruit salad!) In any case, the rest
of the menu, we all agreed, was very good and since none of us had been to
Oasis before, it was settled.
The restaurant
is located next to one of the hotel’s swimming pools, has quite an informal
atmosphere, and has an outdoor seating area adjacent to the pool which must
make it great for daytime dining. The restaurant specializes in buffet dinners
with live-cooking stations. As far as I could tell, other than the hotel
residents who shuttled in intermittently, there was only one other group
ordering from the NRW prix fix menu. I initially thought that would work to our
advantage as the wait staff had only two tables ordering a la carte.
However, once the latecomers of the group finally rocked up (almost an hour
late!), the service was incredibly slow. Our waitress, Dorothy, bless her
heart, was so timid and quiet she was literally whispering to the table—and
there were seven of us! Taking drink orders took way too long as did getting
the wine list. When it did come and a bottle ordered, my friend who had ordered
the wine let me know that it wasn’t the one she’d selected. All the same, with
spirits high and desserts to look forward to, we let it slide.
For starters,
between the seven of us we ordered deep-fried calamari rings, the chicken,
avocado and mango salad, and the tomato and tamarind soup—and endured a half
hour wait to get them to the table. In fairness, we realized that the meals
were being prepared at a different kitchen when we noticed that our meals were
being delivered by three people in those room service contraptions. I can be
very finicky about service delivery so I’m afraid I was that person who kept
pointing out just how long we had to wait for everything. That said, my
calamari rings were absolutely delicious. They were fresh and not rubbery (as
calamari can sometimes be) and came with a wasabi mayonnaise that I would
gladly have had on its own (it was that good). The rest of the starters were
just as good although the boys were sad to find that the chicken-avo-mango
salad was a cold salad. Serves them right for being so late to dinner.
For my main
course, I had the beef fillet topped with a blue cheese sauce and accompanied
with potato wedges and grilled vegetables. I was slightly disappointed that my
beef was well done even though I had ordered it medium rare. It was slightly
chewy but very flavorful thanks to the blue cheese sauce. Two of my friends
ordered the lamb chops that came with grilled vegetables and rice, and they
were quite pleased with their choice even if the vegetables were slightly
overcooked. My friend who had ordered the chicken parmigiana dish had reason to
be the most satisfied of the bunch. I tried some of it and instantly wished I’d
ordered the same and not been swayed by my love of blue cheese (the stinkier,
the better).
After making the
case for Oasis on the basis of how many desserts were on offer, I was really
hoping that they would live up to my very grand expectations. I was torn
between the strawberry cheesecake and the mango and chocolate mousse but
eventually settled on the latter—something I was very happy about once I tasted
everyone else’s dessert (giving the fruit medley a miss, thank you very much!)
The mousse was YUM! Big shame the portion size was so small. It was actually a
normal-sized dessert but I enjoyed it so much I wished it had been at least two
times bigger. Two of us had the orange cheesecake, one the strawberry
cheesecake, and one whose friendship I shall reconsider, had the fruit medley.
It figures that the fruit medley was made up of big slices of fruit while my
chocolate mousse was of meager proportions. Ha!
 |
| chocolate mousse |
 |
| Orange cheesecake |
 |
| Strawberry cheesecake |
 |
| Fruit medley |
My experience at
Oasis was one of those where the great company thankfully more than made up for
the shortfalls in anything else. While the food was good, the service left A
LOT to be desired. In hindsight, I would return to Oasis to enjoy the buffet
dinner where the food is already prepared and I can do without having to sit
for long periods of time waiting for my meal—and I can eat as many desserts as
I can stomach!
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