I had lunch here with one of my girlfriends today and it was great.
Jambo is a Kenyan restaurant, the only one that I know of in Ottawa. It is where the beloved Singapore Restaurant used to be before the owners retired and closed up shop. The space (a converted house) remains mostly unchanged except instead of Asian art adorning the walls, it is now African art.
Service was incredibly courteous and welcoming. The ladies checked up on us multiple times, and asked us how we were enjoying the food.
We both started off with a beef samosa each ($1.99 each - or 6 for $8.99). These were small but packed with ground beef, onions, and spices. The pastry was thin and crispy and even though they were deep fried they didn't taste too greasy. The accompanying dipping sauce was flavourful with a nice spicy kick.
I got the Beef Brochettes with Plantains ($14.99) and my friend got the Chicken Brochettes with Rice ($13.99).
My beef brochettes were alternating pieces of onion, bell pepper, and cubed beef. I got 2 skewers. The beef was flavourful and while not all that tender, it wasn't too tough. The plantains were cooked perfectly. Not too mushy but not too hard. They had a slightly sweet flavour, and I got a huge mound of them. The dish also came with a small side salad which was iceberg lettuce (I'm not the hugest fan of iceberg, but at least it was fresh and crispy), slices of baby cucumbers and a slice of tomato, with an Italian vinaigrette-like dressing on the side. The dish also came with a dipping sauce that was fantastic. It was full of flavour.
My friend enjoyed her chicken brochettes, which looked like mine except they were chicken instead of beef. She got a huge amount of white rice and only managed to eat about a third of it.
I'm so glad to see more culinary diversity in Ottawa's food scene. I was a bit disheartened to see that we were the only customers over the lunch hour on a Friday. I hope that they do well because the food and service were both excellent. I will certainly be returning.
There's free parking in the back of the restaurant. Just be careful when entering or exiting because the laneway is only 1 car width, so watch out for possible oncoming traffic. read more