On a random saturday afternoon drove myself to Sierra on mombasa road next to Panari hotel. The brewery is in a massive warehouse, the brasserie & lounge are set in the front corner. The decor is really great, minimalist & understated. In one corner is a glass wall through which you can see all the brewing gizmos. Great beer geek porn. It was very quiet when I got in, only eight other customers present then it was 4pm, Kenyans probably show up at more fashionable hours.

All those shiny vats containing liquid gold, I would love a tour of the brew operation. I should call & ask sometime or if Sierra brewmaster is reading this, how about a tour?

Porter to wet my throat as I browse the menu. The menu is not to big which is good, too much choice is bad for the diner & hell for the chef. The chef presents a pretty global menu, though Thai seems to be his biggest influence. Cuisines represented Moroccan, Spanish, Cypriot, Chinese, Malaysian, British & French. Almost all the desserts are classic French. Nothing Kenyan per se, but what is kenyan cuisine anyway? Kaasa asked this question a while back on her blog

I was not really hungry, so I had two starters & a dessert.

The twice-cooked pork belly with caramel tamarind sauce was beautifully presented & flavourful, if it were less sweeter or more spicier it would be perfect. The potato puree was heavenly, I wanted more.

The spanish influenced potato, bacon & brie croquettas was cooked to perfection & presented beautifully. Loved the garnish not 100% sure what it was, think it was pickled red capsicum, grated parma cheese & some mint oil(you can’t see it in picture). Should have asked the chef.

My dessert was a trio of chocolate desserts. A dark chocolate cake which I totally loved. The mocha ice cream which is bought in, was ok. The white chocolate cheese cake with a fruit coulis(can’t remember what it was) was great.

After my meal, I got to thank chef Eric personally for his great food. He trained at Utalii college and has years of experience working around Kenya & overseas.

I really loved the experience at Sierra, I’m definately heading back there with all my mates for dinner & beers. You should head over there too.

Some say bacon makes everything taste, well in this millennia I say “beer makes everything taste good”. Quote me! I had oxtail braised in beer, now here is beer bread.

This quick beer bread features Sierra Amber from my favorite micro-brewery, Sierra. Love the look of this bread, all lumpy & bumpy like the moon’s surface. Tastes amazing straight from the oven. The better the beer the deeper the flavour though I would not use a pale lager to make this bread. I think darker beers have deeper richer flavour.

I adapted this recipe from recipebazaar . Just make sure you sift all the dry ingredients, I learnt this from an chef Shuna at her blog eggbeater.typepad.com . You know she is right, she used to work at the French Laundry.

• 375 grams sifted plain flour
• 355 mls beer (pour it out early, to let it go flat)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 25 grams butter melted

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.Grease baking tin with a little butter.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Add beer to dry ingredients & mix until just combined. It will be heavy, lumpy & thick.
4. Pour into baking tin, pour melted butter on top,
5. Bake for 45 minutes.
6. Remove from tin, let cool on rack for about 10 minutes.
7. Eat up!

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This is the best meal I’ve had this year by far, the star of this dish was the sierra porter beer in which I braised the oxtail. Sierra porter is a really amazing beer from Sierra Nairobi’s only micro-brewery. They brew three great beers, Sierra Blonde, Sierra Amber & Sierra Porter. The amber & the porter are my favourites. The blonde is a pale lager, whilst its far better than EABL’s Tusker Malt Lager, it is not bold enough for my taste. Sierra also brew in accordance to the German purity law, the Reinheitsgebot. On the flipside, EABL add adjuncts & an assortment of preservatives to most of their beers. Tusker, a Kenyan favourite, has cornstarch added to the barley malt. The use of cornstarch serves only to reduce brewing cost. EABL is owned by the mega multinational Diageo(thats not a bad thing), Sierra is a homegrown company which is why I would like to support them & as per their website their founder is fond of thai food and so am I.

Back to the braised oxtail, it was a cornucopia of flavour. The porter added sweetness to the oxtail & the most amazing aroma. The lemon juice in the sauce(reduced braising liquor helps cuts the richness of the oxtail. The ugali had great textural contrast to gelatinous goodness of the oxtail. The gremolata made up of roasted garlic & coriander add flourish to this meal.

Beer braised oxtail

• 1 kg oxtail(jointed)
• 2 bottles sierra porter
• 1 carrot sliced
• 1 onion roughly chopped
• 6 Sprigs of thyme
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 3 tomatoes diced
• 250 mls water
• Plain flour
• Vegetable oil
• Few drops of lemon juice

1. In a large bowl or casserole dish add oxtail, carrot, onion, thyme, garlic. Add the beer to completely submerge all ingredients. Marinate in fridge for 24 hours.
2. After 24 hours, drain beer from casserole and set it aside. Also set aside oxtail & vegetables separately.
3. Dust the oxtail in plain flour, heat vegetable oil in casserole pan then brown oxtail until golden brown then set it aside.
4. Also brown the reserved vegetables in pan. Add the tomatoes & cook until tomatoes are soft.
5. Add beer and bring it to boil, add oxtail.
6. Bring to a gentle simmer. Simmer for about 4-5 hours when oxtail
7. When oxtail is done, set it aside. Strain braising liquor.
8. In saucepan bring braising liquor to boil. Reduce it by half. Add few drops of lemon juice & season to taste. The reduced braising liquor is great sauce for this dish.

Coriander/Cilantro gremolata

• 1 cup of roughly chopped coriander/cilantro.
• 6 garlic cloves with skin on.
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 3 sprigs of thyme.
• Zest of half a lemon.

1. Toss the garlic cloves & thyme in a little olive oil & salt. Roast in 150 degree celsius oven for about 15 minutes.
2. Squeeze garlic out of its skins, and roughly chop it
3. Combine the garlic with chopped coriander & lemon zest.

Putting it all together

• Spoon some of the reduced braising liquor into a bowl, then some pieces of the oxtail topped with the coriander gremolata. This goes great with ugali.
• Making ugali is easy but tricky to explain…….. I’m kinda being lazy now.

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