CHEF PROFILE
TEXT
ALEX ROBERTS
PHOTO
EATOUT / KARAN KHALSA
GREEN
ZONE
About Thyme tries
their sincerest to
make the eatery
relaxed for everyone
to feel at ease.
After paying her dues slogging through other people’s restaurants,
Deborah Swai is finally content with the way things are panning
out at her very own About Thyme Restaurant. Fancy but not
pretentious, this relaxed establishment is fast becoming a
Westlands favourite.
It isn’t always the straightest of
paths to own a restaurant, often
times there are curves and changes
before winding up with the white
coat of a chef. For Deborah Swai
of the Westlands institution About
Thyme, it was well worth the wait.
After slogging through years in the
service and restaurant business in
England (including an early morning
stint as a baker), Swai decided to
come home to Kenya to try her hand
in the restaurant business.
Like a lot of things at About
Thyme, even finding the location
was a labour of love: Swai looked for
over a year before settling on the
quiet location off Peponi Road. Since
opening in 2005, About Thyme has
become known in Nairobi for being
the go-to spot for relaxed cuisine
with the atmosphere to match.
The atmosphere feels a bit homey,
just as Swai intended, adding to the
veneer of the spot is the exceptional
blend of “home-cooked” food that
has been keeping guests happy for
the last decade. It isn’t your normal
fare, with a slightly off-kilter blend of
spices, backgrounds, influences and
presentations. This even makes its
way into the appetizer course, with
the duck cigars (an Asian flavoured
spin on a samosa) finding itself both
familiar and different.
In spite of the eclecticism shown
from Swai’s kitchen, the overall
theme comes back to a home away
from home. The décor of About
Thyme matches that mantra: fancy
but not pretentious, chic but not
aloof.
This isn’t the inaccessible cuisine
that first time diners can’t relate to.
No, About Thyme tries their sincerest
to make the eatery relaxed for
everyone to feel at ease. It’s a point
that Swai insists on: with the staff
some of the friendliest in Nairobi,
the food the most familiar, the touch
the most personal. Every table gets
a visit from Swai, every one made
to feel special by a “Chef’s surprise”
biting given with every meal. The
aloof inaccessibility of many highend restaurants is nowhere to be
found among the rolling hillside
garden of About Thyme, the further
you go into the property the warmer
and more casual it feels.
For Swai, the sustainability of
About Thyme is its adaptability. They
mend and adjust the menu, finding
comfort food wherever they can find
influence. This rings especially true
from their participation in Nairobi
Restaurant Week, where some of the
featured dishes became so popular
they made the jump from a one week
experiment to full time featured item
on the menu. The Pepper Steak is
one such dish, becoming one of the
restaurant’s most popular plates in
recent months. Even experiments in
desserts have found their way onto
the ever-changing menu, with frozen
Key Lime pie (once feared too cold
for diners) becoming perhaps their
most loved dessert.
For Swai, it has been everywhere
from India to England bringing in a
bit from everywhere, with everything
from coconut curry fish an English
style chicken pot-pie being featured
on the menu. This is definite stickto-your-ribs type of cuisine, with
the mind of Swai producing menu
standouts such as lamb stew with
lemon and figs, to pumpkin and
amaretti tortellini served up in
portions that are guaranteed to fill
up and satisfy.
Whatever it is, there isn’t a rush
to get to the point, only a garden,
food to bring some joy and maybe
a cocktail or two. Fo ȁ