A haven for the health conscious in the heart of the city

Nailantei Norari @Artnorari

While healthy eating has always been associated with the elderly, more and more age groups are embracing a healthy lifestyle.

This has led to the mushrooming of new restaurants that serve wholesome meals. 

However, long before organic eating became fashionable in the city, Bridges Organic Restaurant has been serving healthy meals in their two restaurants located on Kaunda Street and Tubman Road in the Central Business District.

The restaurant has been in existence for more than 14 years and is widely known by those in the healthy set as the place to go for wholesome meals, or if you have dietary restrictions and want a place that will adhere to them. 

A friend told me about the restaurant after I accidentally almost poisoned her with charred food when she visited me.

She would trick me into going to the restaurant for breakfast, during which she casually asked if they still had cooking classes. They did and I am better for it.

The breakfast was amazing too. I had garden salad and mixed tea while my friend had a bowl of fruit with yoghurt, honey and chia seeds accompanied by a glass of fresh juice.

I would learn that their ingredients are organic and Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)-free as they source their ingredients from small scale farmers.

I would also learn that they have an organic shop where one can purchase organic ingredients, such as honey, hibiscus tea, stevia powder, mint powder, spirulina and other superfoods. 

Stained windows and good food

The window panes in the Kaunda street branch are made with beautiful stained glass.

It reminds me of a place of worship, a place to satiate innermost desires and honour the body that ferries you from place to place safely. I have been in its hallowed halls a few times.

I, especially love their kienyeji chicken, which can come with either brown rice or brown chapati and a huge serving of greens. 

All the food here is cooked with olive oil and either shallow fried or baked. Even their snacks, such as samosas are oven baked, which means they do not have the leaking oil that normally leaks from fried samosas with each bite.

They have three samosa variants, beef, chicken and fish. My friend is enamoured with their chicken cashew nuts, a delightful mix of flavours and textures that one can pair with mukimo, matoke, chapati, rice or just savour it as it is.

They also have chicken curry and biryani. She also loves their fish meals, with their fish tacos and fish fillet mushroom being rotated on her eating roster here.

For the new age diner, they serve beef burgers with thick and tasty patties done to your liking.

Fries are also available, but they are baked, not fried. They are quite sumptuous if you ask me.

For the vegetarians, there are plenty of choices to pick from, from stir fried veggies to platefuls of githeri njahi. 

To down it all, one can have a hot cup of coffee, dawa (a drink that is usually a combination of lemon ginger and honey, usually taken as a natural cold remedy) or tea.

They also serve organic juices. My current favourites are their strawberry mint lemonade, their energy booster, which jumpstarts your lagging system on slow afternoons, and green velvet juice, which is made from a careful blend of spinach, apples and cucumbers. 

Gluten-free cake

They also have smoothies, with the ironman being my post-workout recovery option. It is made with oats, banana, honey, milk, cinnamon and the goodness of the superfood that is chia seeds. 

For dessert, you can have a gluten free piece of cake. I love their carrot slice cake as it is still tasty whilst being healthy.

What stands out for me is that Bridges Organic has an in-house nutritionist that one can consult with if they want to change their diet or they just want to learn more about nutrition.

Bridges can help curate a menu for you, and even deliver your meals if you wish.

If you would like to detox and do it safely and with a specialist, the nutritionist can put you on a juice only programme where they make and deliver the juices to you wherever you are.

You can pick from several programmes. I tried their three-day detox program and it helped stabilise my gut movements. I am gearing up for their one-week programme, but I have to save up first. 

They serve very large portions, so come hungry or ready to carry the remaining food in a goody bag.

The prices are quite friendly too. A garden salad for instance goes for Sh300, coconut fish fillet goes for Sh850, soups start from Sh300, while mixed tea goes for Sh80.

The service is also attentive with the ambience  pretty chilled giving room to have heartfelt catchups or work meetings.