This archive report was first published on 18 June 2020.
Ukunda town in Kwale is home to a unique restaurant run by a German expatriate, Wolfgang Fley. The restaurant, known as My Favourite Place, is a single-room affair with a thatched roof made of coconut palm fronds, or makuti, and an open entrance.
On the menu are some of Kenya's favourite meals, but with wrong spellings. For instance, 'blach tea' is listed instead of 'black tea', and 'giteri' is meant to be githeri. The cost of food ranges from Sh10 to Sh40 per plate.
Wolfgang Fley, 73, is the owner of the restaurant. He works with his 57-year-old Kenyan wife, whom he lives with in a rented Swahili house. Fley reveals that he was a chef in Germany and cooking is his favourite job.
Asked why he couldn't establish a nice joint along the beach, Fley responds that 'there are no tourists flocking the Coast currently and Kenyans will definitely buy local.'
He discloses that he established the restaurant in January last year and that most of his clients are local business people in the adjacent Ibiza market.
Maureen Samuel, the only waitress at the local eatery, says she was employed to assist in communicating with customers who don't speak English or German.
One of the clients we find in the restaurant is Masha Katana, who says the food, especially the githeri, is really good.
