My birthday fell on Easter weekend this year. Since I had a four-day weekend off work, we traveled to Diani, on the Kenyan coast of the Indian Ocean. For my birthday, we went to Ali Barbour's Cave Restaurant.
Ali Barbour's is set in an actual coral cave, with the rooftop opening to a beautiful starlit sky. It also offered the first gourmet meal we've had since leaving Washington DC. As a couple who enjoys going out to nice restaurants, we were so happy to be in a romantic restaurant eating delicious, creative food served by courteous staff.
Our concierge had made the reservation for us and obviously mentioned it was for a birthday, because the maitre d' asked whose birthday it was when we arrived. As we ate appetizers, main course, and then dessert, I was on guard for an embarrassing birthday moment. But we finished dessert and nothing had happened yet, so I figured I was in the clear. As the server picked up our dessert plates, she leaned towards Jeremy and said "I would like to be seeing you." Jeremy looked confused, so I translated for him: "She wants to talk to you for a minute." He spoke with her briefly and then sat back down at the table...and I knew it was coming. From behind me I heard voices singing "Happy Birthday," a small cake with a sparkling candle was placed in front of me, and I was handed a big cake knife.
As the servers faded away, Jeremy and I laughed and laughed that we had already eaten dessert and now had to stuff down this cake that the staff had kindly prepared for us. Jeremy told me that when the server pulled him aside she said "we have a cake...when do you want it?" And he's thinking "uh...before we ate dessert" but instead said "now would be good." It was a long meal, but makes for a good story!
Sounds Cool!
ReplyDeleteLove it! "I would like to be seeing you"!!! That's awesome.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of food was it? I mean, before they handed you that massive cake knife!
@ cynthia: it's a seafood restaurant. i had a shrimp and rice appetizer that was fabulous. my main course was red snapper, which was sadly overcooked. jeremy had a seafood pate for his appetizer. he liked it, but i thought it tasted like canned catfood! he bucked the seafood trend and had veal for dinner, which was excellent. i think i had ice cream for dessert, and jeremy had these awesome ginger crisps with sweet cream that looked very similar to cannolis. the cake lived up to its reputation...kenyan cake is renowned in the expat community as dry and tasteless.
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