Nyama Choma & Braai Meat in Nairobi

How to Cook Nyama Choma Properly

Nyama choma has a reputation for being simple, and it is - but "simple" and "easy to get right" are different things. Almost every disappointing choma comes down to one of three mistakes: too much heat too soon, meat that was too thin, or not enough patience.

1. Build two zones on your fire

This is the single most useful thing you can do. Bank the coals to one side so you have a hot zone and a cooler zone. Start ribs and larger cuts over the cooler side, giving the fat time to render and the meat time to relax off the bone - thirty to forty minutes for a rack of ribs. Then move them over the coals to build colour and crust. When the fat starts dripping and flaring, the cooler zone is where you escape to.

2. Ask us to cut it thick

A thin steak on charcoal is a lost cause: the outside chars before the inside warms. Ask us for 3-4cm on T-bones and sirloin and you have room to build a proper crust while keeping the middle pink. This is free, and it is the difference between steak and shoe leather.

3. Salt early, sauce late

Salt an hour ahead if you can - it draws moisture out and then back in, seasoned, and it dries the surface so it browns better. Anything with sugar in it, on the other hand, goes on at the end, or it burns. Marinated meat such as our mshikaki and lamb chops browns noticeably faster than plain, so watch it.

4. Rest it, then cut across the grain

Five to eight minutes off the heat lets the juices settle back through the meat instead of running onto the board. Then find the direction of the muscle fibres and cut across them, at a slight angle. Cutting with the grain makes even a tender cut chew like rope.

5. Do not forget the sausages and samosas

Our house beef sausages keep the children and the early arrivals happy while the ribs take their time, and a batch of samosas fried while the coals settle buys you an hour of goodwill. Both are made in our own deli. Cook sausages over the cooler zone and move them often - high heat splits the skins.

Whole Goats for a Choma

For thirty people and up, a whole goat is usually both the best value and the best spread. We butcher whole animals at City Market, so we can break one down to your specification - ribs kept as racks for the grill, shoulder cubed for a pot, the rest packed how you want it. A whole goat yields roughly 12-15kg of meat. Give us a few days' notice and a phone call so we get the specification right. See the goat and mutton section or our bulk supply page.

Delivery for Your Choma

Order before 4:00pm for same-day delivery across Nairobi. For a weekend gathering, Friday afternoon is safer - and remember two days' notice for mshikaki. We deliver to Lavington, Karen and Langata, Runda and Muthaiga, Westlands and everywhere else we serve, chilled and insulated straight from our cold room.