Nairobi News

ABSOLUTE JUICE

Yaya Centre, 2nd floor

Absolute Juice used to be an absolute joy. Back when I used to work in the area, it was my regular spot for self-impoverishment – any excuse I would get, I would go have their bacon and cheese sandwich.

It’d been a while since I’d been in that area long enough for lunch, so I decided to give it a shot.

Absolute Juice is in an open area after the bookshop right next to the bathrooms – which is a location logistic I have never understood, a restaurant next to the toilet? – but luckily the odours don’t waft out.

The seating is simple – 5 or 6 low wooden tables and 3 or 4 higher-stooled ones – around a semi-circular bar-type section in the wall (where the magic happens).

The big windows that form one wall of the three give Absolute Juice a light, airy feel. In addition, the colours used for décor are bright and light, like yellows, reds and bursts of orange all over the place.

Of course the first thing I ordered was my beloved bacon and cheese sandwich (and the same waitress who was there the last time I was there was the same one this time as well. Loyalty points?).

They manage with a small staff – usually one waitress, and then I suppose the chef and the cashier in the back (or front, depending on where you are standing).

Absolute Juice really does their juices well, too, with a wide range of tasty and healthy – which can sometimes be an oxymoron – choices to choose from; from the simple mango, apple and pineapple to Strawberry Burst (strawberry, apple, mango, passion) and Pink Kiss (coconut, pineapple, strawberry, banana, lime).

The prices of the juices range from 140 to 350 shillings.

Not only do they offer exciting juices, they have salads – like the pasta salad (pasta, green yellow and red pepper, tomatoes and cucumbers).

The sandwiches are done in either 2 slices or 3 or in a baguette. The spreads are mayonnaise, mustard, butter, chutney or pickle. These start at 250.

And if you do not feel like any of the above? You can have the Soup of the Day, muffins, hot chocolate, and even tea, among other small bitings, starting at 100 bob. The place is pocket friendly, one must admit.

However, when my sandwich came, I was rather disappointed. The juice was excellent, but the bacon in my sandwich did not seem well done, and it was much smaller than what I remember.

Perhaps nostalgia was adding shades of size to my memories, but it seemed quite small.

My date had fruit salad as he had already eaten, and that, at least, was the size I remember, and still 250 shillings.

The fruit salad comes in a generous portion with grapes, papaya, mango, pineapple, apple and watermelon. It remains quite tasty.

I think I will go back to Absolute Juice…only this time, ask for a bigger sandwich!