Out to explore the culinary dining scene in Nairobi last Saturday with my family, we found ourselves at the four-star Concord Hotel & Suites in Parklands.

The hotel has three main restaurants, the Curry Flavour, which is primarily Indian, Umami for Oriental food, and Bonhomie for Western cuisine.

We opted for the Umami restaurant as it had been a while since we had used chopsticks at a restaurant. The restaurant serves Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Korean dishes.

Umami is situated on the mezzannine floor of the hotel. It has large windows looking out onto the parking lot and the roads leading up to the hotel entrance.

There is a gap at the top of the windows so they do not extend to the top of the wall; this explains why the cushioned seats are placed at the centre and the plastic chairs at the edges — in case of rain.

The tables are placed far enough from each other so you don’t feel like you’re taking part in other people’s conversations.

The teppanyaki table looked inviting, but this meal option is only available on advance notice. We chose to sit at one of the tables at the edge and watch the night set in as it we were having an early dinner.

One other table had about 10 people, so larger groups are comfortable as well.

The meals are reasonably priced, at about $10 to $15 for most main courses.

Bonhomie offers a Sunday brunch at $25 per person. Children under 10 eat for free, and up to 15 at half price.

So we settled in and ordered our drinks. A mango juice, an oreo milkshake and a mocha and chocolate milkshake.

The mango juice was fresh and refreshing, the oreo milkshake was tasty and not too sweet. The chocolate and mocha milkshake would be ideal for coffee lovers; I'm not one of those. So yes, I tasted everyone's food and drinks.

For starters we had a portion of chicken lollypop, with six chicken winglets marinated in garlic, ginger and chilli and deep fried.

Chicken Lollypop served at Umami restaurant at Concord Hotel. PHOTO | SUSAN MUUMBI | NMG

They were deliciously crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. An ideal start to the meal.

The salmon sushi followed, just two pieces, none for me thanks. I heard that the sushi was tasty after dipping it in soy sauce, accompanied with shards of ginger.

For the main course, we ordered prawns, manchurian chicken and sichuan beef. These come with a side serving of plain rice. The portions were so generous, I only managed to get halfway through mine.

And so I had some of the prawns, fried in green and red peppers; the chicken drenched in a spicy sauce; and my own food, the sichuan beef.

The beef was tender yet had bite, and was tossed in lots of onions, red, green and yellow peppers. Whole cloves burst with flavour in my mouth, and the plain rice was an apt accompaniment.

Salmon sushi served at Umami restaurant at Concord Hotel. PHOTO | SUSAN MUUMBI | NMG

However, it would have been nice to choose the accompaniment myself.

We moved on to dessert. The fried ice cream on the menu seemed interesting, but unfortunately was not available that evening. We opted for cold ice cream, vanilla and chocolate. And once again the servings were generous.

The ice cream was served in a large glass, topped with chocolate and a strawberry.

Its just as well we were in no hurry so we savoured every spoonful.

Umami was a great choice for us as we enjoyed a leisurely evening. The restaurant was not crowded so it works well for intimate dinners as well.

As for our chopsticks skills, let’s just say some people are better at using them than others.

Meanwhile, I’ll be practising at home to prepare for my next visit to Umami.