Zen Gardens – Nairobi

Every now and then we decided to leave the hallowed grounds of Karen and venture out. This time to Zen Gardens in Spring Valley. I’m so glad we did.

Karen is great. It has pubs and bars, posh nosh and burger joints but it is still missing those modern brunch places that I miss from living in Cape Town. Zen Gardens is a bit of a drive but it ticks the box.

The worst thing about Zen Gardens is probably its website. Although Â detailed the site does a dreadful job of making Zen Gardens sound appealing to anyone other than the corporate crowd. The website refers to conferencing facilities, a teahouse and an oriental restaurant. None of which are places that I’d want to go to for breakfast, brunch or lunch and certainly not with kids. We only ended up there as the Wasp & Sprout was fully booked and someone had said there was a kid’s playground.

Gorgeous venue

We found ourselves in the Jade Gardens tearoom, and were greeted with a modern venue set in beautiful grounds. Tearooms are a completely inadequate description for what is an elegant and large stand-alone restaurant. An immaculate setting in a horseshoe shape, set around lush green lawns and beds full of flowers. A kidâ€™s playground was set up round the corner. On weekends a huge bouncy castle is also in residence. This allowed us the luxury of time on our own whilst our kids amused themselves elsewhere. The minimalist theme of was indeed Zen like. Huge glass doors opened the entire span of the building. The restaurant flows in an unbroken line from coolly classic inside to the shade cloth covered outdoors. A patisserie and ice cream shop, counter peep out temptingly from the corner. We saw little sign of the conference facilities, thank goodness! After all who wants to spend Sunday morning in a corporate venue.

Cocktails

The menu was sublime. It took me 10 minutes to peel my eyes away from the morning-friendly cocktail list. Itâ€™s the kind of place that makes you feel like itâ€™s alright to order a Monkey Sour (fresh passion fruit shaken with rose water and vodka) at 11 in the morning. Itâ€™s the kind of place that you want to spend all day at, drinking light fruity cocktails and picking at tapas whilst the kids amuse themselves.

Brunch, lunch and Sushi

The menu for brunch was extensive. I ordered the Salmon Eggs Benedict, which was average. My friend chose the avocado on sourdough bread. The topping a masterpiece in guacamole with just the right amount of lime and a liberal sprinkling of sunflowers seeds. Our choices were unadventurous; we could have chosen from Wake up waffles, loaded croissants or rosti topped with a Spanish omelette. The kids eschewed breakfast in place of meatballs and spaghetti. Huge portions were served and were gobbled up in their entirety. The food was beautifully presented, but what let it down was the bread. The sourdough wasnâ€™t sourdough. The bread on the Benedict was flabby. Should Zen Gardens employ a better a bread baker then the food would be right on the money. The remainder of the ingredients were wonderful. Creamy, moreish hollandaise sauce, bright yellow yolks for the eggs, fresh salmon. The guacamole of pleasure as already described.

Award winning Asian fusion

The menu for lunch looked appealing; with salads, burgers, pizzas and sandwichesâ€¦ see the menu here. Â Not to forget that Zen Gardens is an oriental restaurant at its heart. It is home to the Bamboo Restaurants and offers a vast sushi and Japanese menu. Zen Gardens won the Best Asian Fusion restaurant award in 2013 and 2015, so the Asian side of the restaurant is definitely one to try. See for yourself, the menu is here.Â

Cakes and ice cream

Within the complex is a Patisserie & Gelato shop. A cornucopia of cakes and sweets, which we were sadly forced to ignore, being in the company of 4 little kids. The freakshakes looked particularly scrumptious. With pictures telling the story better than words in this case Iâ€™ve added a few pictures to this blog. Only images can convey the range and quality of the cakes and pastries available. My sweet tooth is rivaled by none and I am definitely planning an afternoon visit to sample some of the delights.

So in conclusion Zen Gardens is a wonderful child friendly venue that invites you to spend lazy weekends sipping cocktails and sampling their various food choices. The food was average butÂ would have been made better simply with the provision of better bread. The menu had something for everyoneâ€¦ The kids menu here, offered everything our children asked for and more. Its only 35 minutes from Karen and definitely worth the drive out. Zen Gardens is going to be a regular feature on my weekend trips from now on.

Looking for other child friendly venues in Nairobi – check out this link.