Seven Seafood & Grill makes a splash

Head chef wants you to love local food as much as he does

The fishing industry in Kenya is at least as important to people’s livelihoods as the beef or poultry industries. Over 500,000 people are directly employed by the sector, while over 1 million benefit from it. Our proximity to the Indian Ocean’s fresh bounty makes our seafood some of the best in the world.


It’s a wonder that we don’t have more seafood-themed restaurants in Nairobi (sushi not included). Yes, there is Tamarind—a seafood restaurant icon that sports the best Lamu-bred Lobster Thermidor you will put in your mouth. But on the whole, seafood-centric restaurants are scarce in Nairobi; that is, until now. Enter the ultra-hip Seven Seafood and Grill with its modern interior and fresh, daily delivered array of oysters, lobsters, prawns and ocean fish.

Not just an eatery, Seven has quickly become the coolest place in which you can’t book a table. Former Safaricom boss Michael Joseph was rejected a few Fridays ago, and, even Airtel’s Rene Meza was turned away, leaving in a huff. (UP had to book on a Monday, and even then, it was still packed to the, uh, gills).

Like many new restaurants in Nairobi, Seven is enjoying a honeymoon period but how long this will last is hard to tell. The true measure of the restaurant will be tested six months from now, because Nairobians are fickle and easily jaded and will leave you like a scorned lover at the first sign of trouble. Thankfully, Seven is in good hands with experienced co-owner and Executive Chef Kiran Jethwa and owner-operator, Nawaz Meghji.
Jethwa gained his experience through 14 years of working in fast-paced kitchens all over the world, including in the US, Europe, South Africa and Australia. “Mainly I love the way food is a center-piece for life— nutritionally, yes, but more importantly as a social mechanism. It brings people together and can bring real joy,” says Jethwa. “Kenya has a wealth of incredible ingredients, particularly seafood; my mission is to bring this to the plate, educate the customer on the specifics of their food and prepare it simply and perfectly in a modern environment with good service.”

On this particular night my dining guest was the mercurial mastermind behind Eatout.co.ke, Mikul Shah. So, we were bound to get good service and good food, but our palates were no less discerning. We had heard mixed reviews of the smoked tuna, but when you taste it with the knowledge of its preparation, your admiration will overflow. Jethwa smokes the fresh Indian Ocean meat with cedar chips for 30 hours in his own house. Trust me, anything prepared with this much dedication is good; you can taste the love. I suppose the only requirement is a taste for smoked fish.

The real stand-out on our appetizer sampler was the sautéed calamari. The secret is a masala-fied marinade consisting of smoked paprika, sage, lemon and olive oil basting. The result is a flavour explosion.

My entrée was a test piece. I wondered aloud to my table partner, “Can anyone, apart from the Tamarind, butterfly and grill jumbo prawns to perfection?” Seven’s grilled chilli prawns not only passed the test, they passed with honours. To understand why, you must appreciate the narrow window of time that separates the undone prawn from the overdone one. This window is about 90 seconds. To get it right, the kitchen has to know the absolute right time to pull the prawn off the grill and allow it to ‘set-up’ on the plates (which means the additional time a meat or dish continues to ‘cook’ on the plate before it starts to cool). Seven’s chef nailed this. The meat of the prawn was succulent and tender, with the consistency of a perfectly cooked, medium rare steak.
Speaking of steak, Seven has plenty of meat options on the menu. My dining friend chose the entrecote cut on the bone, stacked high on the plate. Though focused on its seafood offerings on the night, one bite told me that Seven cares as much about its meat as does its seafood. (Next time, I’m convinced that the way to go is to order the fresh catch and watch it land on my plate as a whole grilled fish. This truly is the Kenyan way.)

Our host and chef exquisitely paired each course with a wine from the restaurant’s deep collection. We tasted the Long Row Verdelho, Caldora Trebbiano and the Boschendal Cab/Shiraz combination for the finishing touch. All the flavours of our meal came alive with these wines and I am planning to introduce them to my own personal collection.

All of Seven’s food is sourced locally (as is the case with most restaurants here), but Seven takes special care to build relationships with local suppliers in Lamu and Tanga. The closeness to the food source and the personal attention given to quality are all a part of the core ethos driving this new restaurant.
When he’s not in the kitchen at Seven, Jethwa loves to cook a hardy Indian meal for friends and family (he’s half-Gujarati), while enjoying a good whiskey. I love chefs who cook and drink in their time off; this means you’re bound to get the same treatment in the restaurant as you would in his home kitchen.