We were staying in Uganda’s capital for a few days and our walk to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens took us past an attractive looking casual bar/restaurant, called Riders Lounge. Having spent a couple of hours wandering around the gardens, we called in, intending to just have a drink. As it was a lovely sunny day, we sat on the quiet, large, covered terrace and ordered a Nile Special beer and a soda water. Having checked out the huge range of international and local dishes on the menu, I spotted vegetable samosas, a firm favourite of mine. As they were priced at 10,000 shillings (£2.20) we ordered one each. When they arrived, there were four samosas on each plate, held together by a skewer, with a side of coleslaw. They were so delicious we had a second round of drinks and people watched as there was a small shopping mall opposite.
The following day we visited Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary and having had a poor dinner in our hotel the previous night, we asked our driver to drop us off at Riders for a late lunch. True to form, we sat in the same seats and ordered the same drinks. But being aware of the generous portion sizes, decided to share a tuna and avocado sandwich. Placemats and cutlery were brought, then small plates as we were sharing, followed by hot flannels. The bread was really fresh, and the huge sandwich with lots of filling was accompanied by coleslaw and an enormous portion of chips.
The service from various young girls was excellent and friendly and we were just disappointed that it was not located nearer our hotel. But at least the 20-minute walk back helped counter the effects of the portions.
