I think in the end it would come down to this important question: Who makes the best beef brisket in Nairobi?
Is there a more important question in the culinary realm, and if so, why? I’m not a meat lover, I’m a fish lover, so I’ll admit right away that I’m probably not the best person to lead a conversation like this. But I have a mouth and teeth that can chew, and I’m lucky enough to have a newspaper column. So here I am, bringing a fork to this meat cleaver battle.
This story begins when a friend of mine told me she had the best brisket in town at a new restaurant called The Bull on the Southern Bypass. I said, “That’s a bull!” She said, “Yes. A bull.” I repeated, “I mean, that’s a bull. The best brisket is at Texas Barbeque in Kikuyu Town.” Of course she had never been to Texas Barbeque, otherwise why would she be spreading these rumors? I had never been to The Bull, so we were fighting ghosts together.
To be fair, out of curiosity, I drove there to check it out. If you don’t live in Karen, the drive there is a bit of a treat, especially when you drive along the road that runs along the southern road.
The first thing that struck me was that The Bull reminded me of one of those cafes in Johannesburg; open seating, a DJ on a stage playing amapiano music, a fire blazing from open barrels, and the smell of barbecue. There was an entire wall of The Bull made of straw bales. It was pretty cool.
We went to try their brisket, and afterwards I told my friend that while I liked the atmosphere at Bull’s and the brisket wasn’t too bad, I still felt like it didn’t compare to the brisket they serve in Texas. Because she was competing with others, I went to Texas a few days later to try their brisket, and my friend later told me that the brisket from Texas was delicious but “oily because they fry it.” It seems the brisket war continues with no clear winner.