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FOOD: Cocktails and crepes at Y&T Kigali

Friday August 09 2019
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A supreme chicken crepe served with a vanilla latte at the Y&T Cocktail and Creperie in Kigali. PHOTO | JEFFERSON RUMANYIKA | NMG

By JEFFERSON RUMANYIKA

Celebrating a friend’s milestone, a couple of friends and I found ourselves in a restaurant food crawl for a place that would be appropriate for a light dinner with a good selection of cocktails.

We opted for the relatively new Y&T Cocktail & Creperie at the Kigali Business Centre, which opened at the start of the year after a major facelift.

Located on the second floor of the building, the restaurant overlooks the Kigali Convention Centre.

The restaurant reimagines a modern French bistro with a sophisticated touch. The modern aspect is brought out with swinging chairs in loud colours.

The purposed indoor and outdoor space is a contemporary homage to Parisian creperies, building upon the rich history of French bistros and classic cocktail bars.

The walls have faux brick wallpaper and black and white art prints, and the seating area is furnished with grey dining chairs and black and white leather bar stools.

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The indoor space is designed to accommodate a classy night out of light dinner and drinks.

When we arrived, we first sat indoors to try out the swinging chairs and enjoy the overall ambiance of the creperie.

After ordering drinks, we went outside to savour the majestic views of the Kigali Convention Centre dome and to watch the traffic on that balmy Friday afternoon.

For cocktails I settled on a Very Long Island, which I consider a measure of how good the cocktails are at a restaurant.

Y&T make theirs with vodka, tequila, white rum, triple sec (Cointreau), gin and a dash of coke, and serve it in mason jars.

The other members of our party had spritzer grenadines, made with pink moscato champagne with cherry flavoured grenadine served in a champagne flute.

All the cocktails we tried were sweet and refreshing, and the Very Long Island was particularly potent.

After the cocktails that served to start the night, we decided to have coffee to cleanse our palates before our meal.

I settled for a vanilla latte and my friends shared a pot of ginger tea.

For dinner, I ordered a supreme chicken crepe as it seemed like the most enticing meal on the menu.

The crepe was filled with chicken, eggs, cheese and vegetables.

The others were keen to try the King salted crepe, which was made of bacon, chicken, cheese, vegetables and fresh cream.

The supreme chicken crepe was delicious although too cold for my liking. The crepe was savoury, which I imagine was from the non-wheat flour.

The chicken was tender and the vegetables were enveloped in the emmental cheese. It was served on a chopping board in good size portions.

The King salted crepe is a house favourite and was recommended to us by the attendant. The bacon and chicken combo was tasty, with the mix of cheese, vegetables and fresh cream.

Prices at Y&T range from Rwf 1,000 ($1.1) to Rwf 23,000 ($25.2)

Y&T has about 60 different cocktails on their menu, which is the most extensive I have seen in any bar or club in Kigali.

It also has top notch crepes and great service. If you’re in Kigali, do add it to your must-visit list.

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