Aside from the fact that most of the food is sourced on-site, Cultiva’s menu is exciting. It changes depending on the produce available on the farm. It is currently serving up season five.
Cultiva Farm Kenya is a farm-to-table restaurant with a seasonal menu, serving organic and sustainable ingredients from their back garden. Everything is homemade, including the beers and sodas. Originally from Ecuador, Cultiva made its debut in Kenya’s culinary landscape in 2017, intending to put your taste buds in a good mood.
Kimchi char siu bao bun (Kimchi). Photo | Maryanne Owiti
Cultiva claims it isn’t just another trendy hipster spot, but it has all the trappings of a hipster restaurant: it’s is off the beaten road with no signage (the askari, accustomed to the half doubt, half confusion look of drivers, he knew before we asked that we were looking for the restaurant); it has a rustic and ethnic decor with state-of-the-art kitchen machinery; the drinks are exotic and expensive (the Watermelon & basil soda will set you back a cool 650 shillings), and familiar food favorites are served with a twist.
Har Gow dumplings. Photo | Maryanne Owiti
Aside from the fact that most of the food is sourced on-site, Cultiva’s menu is exciting. It changes depending on the produce available on the farm. It is currently serving up season five.
It took a long time to decide what to eat because everything sounded appetizing. It was a good thing there were three of us, and we came armed with a list of recommendations.
Desserts – Opera cake, vanilla blueberry ice cream and raspberry vanilla mouse tart. Photo | Maryanne Owiti
For our starters, we ordered the Clucking Good Chicken Wings, the Char Si Bao with kimchi, and the Har Gow Dumpling. Our mains were the Holy F Burger, Prawn & Calamari Ajillo, and the Purple Haze Gnocchi. Since there’s always room for dessert, we got the Opera cake, Vanilla Blueberry ice cream, and a Vanilla Mouse Pie with Raspberries.
Purple Haze Gnocchi. Photo | Maryanne Owiti
I’ll start with the winners – the Kimchi Bao, the Purple Haze Gnocchi, and the Opera cake. The bao bun was soft and fluffy, and the flavors inside were distinct and delicious, a great achievement considering that kimchi is a heavy-hitter flavor-wise. The Purple Haze Gnocchi was simply sublime. I could eat it forever and never get tired. The purple sweet potato was delicate, and the truffle cream sauce heavenly. I give it my highest recommendation.
Prawn & Calamari Ajillo. Photo | Maryanne Owiti