During our conversation with the directors of Mama Ashanti, we sought to find out what inspired them to set up a restaurant in a foreign country.
"We saw the need and we understood that one of the best things that West Africa has is our cuisine and we decided why don’t we open a West African restaurant and so far it has been received so well by Kenyans,” Afum Matta explained.
She went on to describe the type of food found at their restaurant.
“For most of our dishes, we have the chilli on the side. We have a wide range of offerings; things like Nyama Choma (but in the West African way), our Joloff is close to Pilau, so for those who are a bit adventurous ad Kenyans you can go into what we call the West Africa special on our Menu and really dive into the really ethnic test of the whole thing,” she expounded.
Speaking about their newest, Karen Branch the couple said that it was about time to expand their empire in Nairobi and The Waterfront happened to be a perfect location.
“We wanted to be able to dine with good West African food and that was on demand, nice ambiance, a place where you can take your family and we could not find one and we decided to solve our problem for ourselves and also do it at a scale so that we could help others who would love to do the same. That’s what inspired us,” Hawas Matta said.
He further disclosed that they also have another branch in Uganda – operating under a different name.
“We are invested in another branch in Uganda called the bite of Benin and our menus are almost identical,".
"Part of our vision is to become the international brand for West African cuisine.
“We hope to expand our presence in Kenya even more to other counties as well,”
Being a restaurant specializing in preparing and serving West African cuisine you may wonder how they source their products.
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