Kikoru Country Kitchen, Kisumu

Ugale, ugale everywhere

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, ate at the Kikoru Country Kitchen restaurant, opposite the Imperial Hotel in Kisumu, in February 2014, as there seemed few other options near my hotel and it was getting dark. The gentleman who seated me seemed surprised that I intended to sit before selecting my food from the menu. I ordered "wet chicken with ugale" which he said was a local speciality, with mango juice. The juice arrived soon and was thick and tasty. The main arrived a respectable time later and included something like spinach. The chicken was only an arm and small breast, topped with a stew of some vegetables with sauce and tasty enough, though the bird itself a mite dry and scrawny. The ugale was copious (he said it was from maize) but very dense. When the sauce was used up I found it too dry to eat and had to leave two thirds of it. The cost including the drink was 500KSH (about £4). All half dozen tables were full when I left, which Melachi thinks is as it should be.