Solio Lodge Restaurant — African / International, Nanyuki
Solio Lodge sits within Solio Game Reserve — one of Kenya's most successful private rhino sanctuaries, home to both black and white rhino in a landscape of rolling highland grassland at the foot of Mount Kenya. The lodge's eight suites accommodate sixteen guests maximum; the dining experience is correspondingly intimate and extraordinary.
The kitchen operates at the luxury lodge standard that Solio demands, using produce from the lodge's own kitchen garden and the surrounding Laikipia ranches. Buffalo and eland from the conservancy, Laikipia beef from the highland ranches, and vegetables grown at altitude produce flavours that the equatorial highland terroir makes distinctive.
Dinner at Solio, with Mount Kenya's glaciers visible on clear evenings and the sounds of the conservancy's wildlife providing the ambient soundtrack, is among Kenya's most powerful dining experiences. The rhino that occasionally appear at the floodlit waterhole visible from the dining terrace add a dimension that no city restaurant can approximate.
The wine programme draws from South Africa's Cape wine regions with serious attention — Stellenbosch reds that pair with the Laikipia game meat, and whites from the Franschhoek valley that complement the highland trout available from the Mount Kenya rivers nearby.
Best Occasion: Perfect for Proposals
A private rhino conservancy at 2,000 metres, Mount Kenya above, and a table for two with the waterhole lit below. The most exclusive and most powerful proposal setting in Kenya.
Best Occasion: Best for Impressing Clients
Black and white rhino visible from the dinner table. No other dining experience in Kenya carries this combination of conservation authority and luxury standard.