September 28th, 2012 
Emily 
When you go to a restaurant called Carnivore, you expect to eat a lot of meat.
And at Carnivore in Nairobi, you will.
We went to Carnivore when my friend Meg was visiting because it’s one of the most famous restaurants in Nairobi. (We had to show off our new city!) Meg had read about it in her guide book, and I had never been, so it seemed like the perfect mid-week treat during her visit.
At Carnivore, the meal is prix fixe and includes all the meat you can eat.
I prepared by only eating a salad for lunch so that I would be extra hungry for dinner. I have never in my life eaten only a salad for lunch before, so you can see how dedicated I was to the cause. In fact, I’ve been known to eat multiple lunches, so it was real sacrifice to eat just a salad.
But I’m glad I did because my plate overfloweth at Carnivore. The restaurant was once famous for serving wild game meat, but Kenya outlawed the sale of game meat, so they had to stop. This wasn’t a problem though, as we were still able to eat various cuts and organs of beef, lamb, chicken, turkey, crocodile and ostrich.
That’s me, and a tray full of sauces.
To my husband’s delight, we also had a tray full of sauces to accompany the meats. The carvers would say, “this is leg of lamb, try it with the mint sauce” or “this is an ostrich meatball, try it with the berry sauce”. My husband has been known to bring multiple sauces in tiny tupperware containers to work with his lunch, so he was excited to see the array of sauces at our disposal.
One highlight (or lowlight, depending on your tastes) was the ox balls. The man serving them was very good at his job, which means he was very good at convincing squeamish tourists to eat ox balls. He was so pushy, in fact, that I wondered if he was getting a commission. We tried the balls, which were very squishy and not so delicious. But I’d say it’s a highlight because when else would we get the chance to eat animal genitalia.
That’s the face I made when this man told me I had to eat ox balls. Note that I still haven’t finished my drum stick.
Luckily, we each had a dawa to wash the balls down with. Dawa, which means “medicine” in kiswahili, is the signature cocktail of Kenya. It’s a mixture of vodka, lime juice and honey (and very tasty). There are servers at Carnivore whose sole job is to make tableside dawas. Needless to say, it wasn’t hard to get a drink here.
Delicious dawa.
At one point during the meal, we all agreed that it was acceptable to unbutton the top button of one’s pants, if necessary. I don’t think any of us did, but it was nice to know that we weren’t going to judge each other for going completely overboard with the meat smorgash board.
This is how I looked after I ate my weight in roasted meat.
And of course, on our way out the door, we had to stop at the accompanying souvenir shop. Luckily, my husband was in a food coma by that point and incapable of buying any souvenirs. But, if you wanted your very own Carnivore branded apron or t-shirt, you can get that here.
If you go to Carnivore, here are my tips:
- This place is NOT for vegetarians, but if you happen to be vegetarian and must go with a group, know that they do have some salads, soups, and appetizers for you to eat.
- Dessert is included, so save room.
- This is one of the most popular restaurants in Kenya, so make a reservation. We were there on a Wednesday night and every table was full.
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Ox balls! I am still LMAO! It’s okay, because in the US they call them “Mountain Oysters” and depending upon where you get them they will be either from a pig (Down South) a cow (out west.) I believe they are always battered and deep fried. No, I have not eaten either. LOL! I will have a dawa, please.
Ahh, yes, I’ve heard of Mountain Oysters before, glad I know what they are now!
Although I must say, I pretty much like anything that’s been battered and deep fried. These ox balls were NOT fried, but they did come topped with a mystery sauce, which was concerning.
Oh my gosh, first Nyama Choma at the Hood, now Carnivore, you’re really getting immersed into Kenyan meat eating habits! You’re slowly turning into one of us!
Haha, I know! At both places, I ate more meat than I usually eat in a month! Let me know if there are other restaurants I must try in Nairobi!
Emily, thank you for the entertaining post. I love meat too, but I would definitely need a dawa. Or more. I think your expression is rather tame at the suggestion of eating ox balls. I think mine would look more like “No way.”
Haha, glad you thought my expression looked tame. I thought I looked like a maniac!
I am so jealous. I’ve been to an all you can eat Brazilian style BBQ before and it was amazing, but no ox balls, crocodile or ostrich. Just your standard Americas meats.
Don’t worry, you can get crocodile and ostrich in the U.S., maybe we can find an exotic restaurant in Columbus where you could try them.
If not Columbus, than surely in Atlanta.
I love that the cocktail’s name means “medicine.” And ox balls…I don’t think those have ever shown up in any of my historical cookbooks, but I’d be just as suspicious as you were!
Wow, and you’ve had some really weird stuff show up in your historical cookbooks. I would have thought that for sure people from back in the day would have eaten every edible part of an animal.
That wasn’t a drumstick Emily.
Hahahaha!
We have one here in Singapore and really enjoyed it!
Nice, this was my first time eating Brazilian barbeque, I still haven’t decided if I would go back or not… It’s a whole lot of meat!
I love this post and am insanely jealous. I’ve been wanting to travel to Kenya solely to eat at the Carnivore for a while now. It looks great!
We had a lot of fun, so if you make it Nairobi, definitely go to Carnivore!