Food serving as melting pot for Chinese, African cultures

When Joseph Gachoki started working at Kenya's iconic Tin Tin Chinese restaurant 30 years ago, he did not know that his journey to delve deep into Chinese culture had just begun. Today, Gachoki, who has risen through the ranks to the position of front office operations manager, says that the restaurant is synonymous with Chinese culture in Kenya.

Back in 1978, Chinese nationals and couple James Tin and Anna Tin established the Tin Tin restaurant in Nairobi, making it the first Chinese restaurant in Kenya.

"When I started working here in the 1990s, we were mostly serving Chinese customers but over time, our clientele has evolved and today, we mostly serve local customers. We have customers who first tasted and loved Chinese food at our restaurant and though we can serve local dishes on request, they strictly come to have Chinese food," Gachoki said.

Despite being owned by a Chinese proprietor, all the staff, including chefs at the restaurant, are Kenyan. While setting up the restaurant back in the 1970s, co-founder Anna Tin taught local chefs to cook Chinese food and the skill has been passed on to date.

"Being the first Chinese restaurant in the country, we have to maintain the standards of making Chinese food in order for our customers to continue enjoying the unique Chinese experience that we offer," Gachoki said.

However, Jitesh Lakhani, the owner of Taste of China, a Chinese restaurant in Nairobi's Parklands area, has taken a different approach to serving Kenyans Chinese food. His rooftop restaurant with a 360-degree view of Nairobi features Chinese decorations with dragons and Chinese wall hangings, creating an atmosphere that has come to be loved by its customers. However, Lakhani serves what he refers to as "Indo-Chinese food".

"When we established Taste of China back in 2008, we had a Chinese chef who joined us. He trained my wife and the head chef on how to prepare authentic Chinese cuisine. Unfortunately, the Chinese chef had to move back to China because his family was affected by an ensuing earthquake. Once he left, the head chef, my wife and other staff started fusing the Chinese cuisine with other ideas," Lakhani said.

Multicultural environment

With Kenya being a multicultural country with a sizable number of the Indian community of which he is a member, Lakhani decided to continue serving Chinese food after the departure of his Chinese chef but decided to add more variety for his clients.

As a result, people from different cultural backgrounds are able to enjoy the food at his restaurant as can be seen in his clientele, which is made up of both resident and tourist Chinese nationals, Indians, Kenyans, Europeans and even Koreans.

Despite the food being foreign, both Gachoki and Lakhani said that feedback on Chinese delicacies served in Kenya is very positive and most local customers have indicated their preference for chicken, pork and prawns.

Robin Bosibori, a regular customer at the Tin Tin restaurant, said that she first visited the restaurant during a friend's wedding reception back in 2006 and she has been a customer ever since.

Gachoki said that Kenyans' love for Chinese food has grown to an extent that the restaurant gets orders to serve Chinese food at events such as weddings or birthdays.

otiato@chinadaily.com.cn