There is this terrible saying, a bad clock is right twice a day and I think the same can be said for me; if you wait long enough, I’ll be on time, like I was this Saturday! This past weekend, we had a team lunch and guess who was early? Me! Well, technically, I was the first one to get to town but we were all late by like an hour. But I am not here for technicalities so I am sticking with that early bird story.
Our meeting point was at The Oval and the decision to eat at Big Square was pretty unanimous, I am yet to have a meal at Big Square that I didn’t like so you bet I was psyched. For someone with an appetite as unpredictable as mine, I’m usually too psyched about food than is probably normal.
My go to orders are usually from the breakfast menu, I love, love breakfast foods. If I am eating out with someone, which means I’ll definitely try out something from their plate for variety’s sake, even better! On Saturday, there was about eight of us at the table so in this case, it was a full on buffet for me. I’m not even ashamed, okay, maybe just a little. I ordered Full Square Breakfast, it’s two eggs, two sausages, fries, bacon, beans in sauce, toast and an option of either tea or coffee. The whole thing costs KSHs 600 bob! Which to be honest is quite affordable, compared to most joints. I especially love that a hot beverage is included, something that most restaurants do not do, they charge for that separately. Though for day drinking purposes, I skipped on the tea | Coffee and had sangrias instead. I also skipped out on the beans because ermmmm air pollution is not attractive.
The sangrias is where the real party was at. Instead of ordering glasses, five of us shared pitchers. One pitcher actually filled all five glasses, twice but by the second pitcher we had ditched our home training and were pouring to the brim of our glasses. The Pitcher goes for KSHs 1800 while a single glass for KSHs 300; do the math. I also noticed that the pitchers are made well in advance then refrigerated but there are labelled with visible production and sell by dates which translates to quality and timely service. The pitchers are purely filled with liquid so once you order, you get the fruits with the wine glasses. Hello liquid fruit salad!
Speaking of of salad, Zo ordered the chicken, bacon & avo salad which I think I’ll order next time, if I am in no mood for breakfast. I mean, hello- it’s a salad with bacon, so you could argue that that’s breakfast too. It had these gorgeous tomato quarters sprinkled with black pepper in addition to the avocado, chicken, lettuce and your usual salad makings. I usually eat tomatoes as a fruit so you bet I hogged, for 490 bob this salad is a steal and a good option for vegans | vegetarians, IMO.
Kahunda went all carnivore on us and ordered the Mixed Grilled Platter 2; fish strips, peri peri wings, crispy wings, grilled chicken and fries. My God, so much meat! The crispy wings were amazing, I wasn’t joking about that buffet life. The Mixed Grill Platter 2 goes for KSHs 1300 and is perfect if you’re crazy about your protein intake. If you’re not too crazy about fish, the Mixed Grill Platter 1 has pork chops in the place of fish strips and goes for the same price.
I’m usually a bit iffy with rice. I mean, it’s better than ugali (yes, I said it) but I rarely order rice when I am eating out. Jan’s order, rice with chicken strips, looked interesting; I was definitely going to try it out but ermmm there’s a limit even to my gluttony and I was too full to sample it. It does come with this perfectly hot sauce that I stole a spoonful of so yayy to that. (Insert dancing girl emoji here.).
Food is great, but the quality of service is equally important. We had a lovely waitress (whose name I have since forgotten because… ermm, remember those sangrias I mentioned) very attentive and she had great suggestions. We were lucky to be at the Big Square when it wasn’t too busy so the ambiance was right as was the playlist, so much so that we kept Shazaming. We were seated outside so airflow was great, it can get a lil chilly though, so bring a sweater with you though a light ‘cover up’ should be adequate.
Overall, I’d give Big Square at The Oval an 8/10. Definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already been, if you need more convincing, here is the Big Square menu. But seriously, that breakfast is definitely better (read more affordable) than most brunch options.
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#FeedingV is a new category adapted from my Instagram, I figured there’s no better time to try new things than in the beginning of the year. It should be coming to you on a weekly basis. feel free to drop suggestions on where I should eat, meal types, photo ideas… I am down for whatever feedback.
Love & Potatoes,
V.
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