KAMPALA SERENA’S ‘PEARL OF AFRICA’ TAKES TOP HONOURS IN UGANDA’S RESTAURANT AWARDS
(Posted 26th November 2015)
The top category of the inaugural Kampala Restaurant Awards, during a ceremony held last evening notably at the Kampala Serena Hotel, went to what many knew and few doubted: ‘The Pearl of Africa’ restaurant of the hotel for the fine dining category. This is the ultimate credential and the restaurant’s chefs and service team have consistently delivered culinary excellence for their patrons.
Organized by Hello Foods in conjunction with MTN and DoneDeal were these inaugural awards supported by Brussels Airlines. Kampaleans much anticipated the results for the best across the hotel and restaurant industry in Kampala and participating eateries pulled out all stops to impress clients and get their votes. 15 award categories were up for grabs and multiple nominees in each category competed for the honours. From Best Restaurant of the Year over best best Ugandan Food, African Food, Best Indian Food, Best Asian Cuisine and Pizzeria to Best Café / Deli, Best Value for Money, Best Bar Food, Best Service, Best Food on the Go to Best New Restaurant, Best Wine Brand and even Best Beer, the honours were all there for the taking. Whichever though won the Best Beer award, looking at the nominees, they got that one wrong as there is no doubt in the mind of this correspondent that it has to be Belgium’s Leffe Beer which is only available at the Le Chateau Restaurant on Quality Hill and which leaves all the pretenders to the beer throne trailing in a long wake.
With the Fine Dining gone to Serena was it at the other end of the spectrum the Endiro Coffee house which bagged the award for Best Café Deli while close rival Café Java won the award for Best Value.
What the competition aimed to showcase was culinary excellence and the fact that Kampala has arrived on the regional scene, still way off from what range of culinary delights Nairobi may have to offer but certainly now catching up fast. The sister competition for the Kampala Cocktail Week is also now underway with hotel bars mixologists conjuring up all sorts of alcoholic creations to make a mark for themselves and show what they are made of.
Guest of Honour of the night was the King of Tooro, HRH Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV who extended his congratulations to all the winners and mostly for making Uganda and Kampala proud of where the country and the capital have now reached.
