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Spicy offerings at the Asian Kitchen in Kigali

Friday November 10 2017
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The Asian Kitchen restaurant in Kisimenti in Rwandan capital Kigali. PHOTO | JEFFERSON RUMANYIKA | NMG

By JEFFERSON RUMANYIKA

Asia, the most populous continent, has many great cuisines. And now, restaurants serving Asian food have sprung up in Kigali to accommodate the tastes of people who like it.

The Asian Kitchen has stepped up to the plate to serve healthy cuisine. The restaurant is located at Kisimenti, next to the Sawa City Remera supermarket.

Asian Kitchen is a small, eclectic and intimate restaurant with just six tables. It has an eco-friendly restaurant interior design creating a “green space.” The tables are made of recycled wood, and plants in vases bring the whole space to life.

Asian Kitchen offers Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Most of the clientele are expatriates.

After thumbing through the menu, I decided to try the monthly special — a spicy curry chicken. It was chicken and vegetable stir-fried with green curry paste served with white rice and tofu nuggets.

The crisply baked tofu nuggets were savoury and blended well with the vegan ranch dressing. The rice was fluffy and tender and salted to taste. The chicken curry was hot and spicy, with the chicken in bite-size portion and a little too chewy for my liking.

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The stir-fried vegetables in the curry were fresh and so heavily spiced that I started sweating profusely after eating them.

The chicken was garnished with tomatoes, lemon and coriander, which made for quite an adventure for the palate.

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Asian Kitchen: Spicy curry chicken served with white rice and garnished with lemon, tomatoes and coriander. PHOTO | JEFFERSON RUMANYIKA | NMG

Lunch menu

Asian Kitchen has a set lunch menu that comes with a drink and nuggets at an all-inclusive price. Lunch offerings include green curry, red curry, noodles, rice, fried rice, beef fillet, and chilli chicken. The vegetarian menu consists of tofu nuggets, spring rolls, salads and Asian fried rice, and milk puddings.

The restaurant offers side orders of tofu nuggets, som tam salad and spring rolls. Desserts include milk pudding, mango sauce and ice cream.

Asian Kitchen’s green tea latte was a first for me. There is hardly any dish on the menu without a vegetable in it.

The restaurant’s fresh strawberry soda is made on-site with fresh strawberries harvested from their farm in Rwanda. It is a must try.

Asian Kitchen has a wide choice of beverages — local beers, wines, specialty smoothies, soft drinks and different types of coffee.

The restaurant is an intimate private spot if you want to get away from the crowds, and is definitely worth a visit.

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