Who knew there was a Little Italy in Kenya!? Well, we managed to stumble upon it. Watamu and Malindi, on the coast, are a village and city with huge Italian influences due to many settlers from the land of pizza 🍕, pasta 🍝 and ice-cream 🍦. At first we thought the place was a mirage, or our malaria tablets were finally sending us crazy, but it's real.
Authentic pizzerias lining the main road, African children playing on the streets who cheer 'Ciao' as we walk by and local beach restaurants which have adopted the cuisine as their own, with African twists.
It may sound strange or off-putting, but it really, really works. The African cultural shops and tribesmen strolling down the paths mix seamlessly with the Italian supermarket and signs written in Italian - it's amazing!
We had done a bit of research on the restaurants in Watamu to find some cheap eats and Hosteria Romana came up as a good, cheap eat. Turns out it's not crazy cheap, but it was within our daily food budget (just) and totally worth it! Watamu was six weeks into our travels and we had almost forgotten what the buzz of a full restaurant, with eager eyes outside looking for a table, felt like. Holiday-makers (mostly, if not all, Italian) patiently waited for a free table and when we took our first mouthfuls, we knew exactly why they were waiting!
Hosteria Romana has exceptional Italian dishes and if you're visiting Watamu (a Kenyan gem, rivaled by only Lamu - but easier to get to by road) it's a must visit!
The following 3 restaurants also came up during our research into where to eat in Watamu; the best restaurants on a budget:
Amici Miei We visited Watamu in the low season (the beach is littered with seaweed until Oct/Nov and again from about April) so we think that Amici Miei was taking time off during this quiet spell as it was closed whilst we were in Watamu. However, the reviews online looked just as mouthwatering as Hosteria Romana and the place looked great to walk past, so we have a good feeling about this one and were desperate to sample it
Makuti Ristorante Pizzeria When a restaurant has a certain food in their name, you should really order that food - we didn't and were very disappointed with our dishes. We saw 4 pizzas come out of the Makuti Ristorante pizza oven and they all looked delicious. Unfortunately (for us), our food (local curry and pasta) didn't look or taste as good as those pizzas looked, or the faces of the people eating them. Rookie mistake
Swahili Cafe Away from the central hub of restaurants but a nice way to try local cuisine and definitely the best value for money. We both loved the chapatis especially, as well as the passion fruit juice, and dined amongst locals whilst the evening news played on the TV
All that said, if you only take one thing from this post, MAKE SURE YOU EAT AT HOSTERIA ROMANA - we're certain you won't be disappointed.
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