Luwombo Restaurant

We discovered this gem of a restaurant several years ago when the most expensive meal used to cost no more than a fiver. Back then, the place was seedy and chintzy and hardly the sort of place where one would wish to make an impression with a first date or even eminent visitors from abroad.

While new joints are opening up left and right in town, for some odd reason, they tend to eschew local food and favor western or for want of a better word Continental fare. Thus you will find that when it comes to dining out and eating local food, the choices are limited to just a handful of places from which to choose.

Among these we can think of 2K Restaurant over on Hoima Road, All Sisters in Ndeeba and St Elizabeth on Lumumba Avenue, and last but not least the venerable Nalongo’s in Katwe and Luwombo Restaurant on the Busabala road.

Of course, I am the first to admit that there are a plethora of other places that abound and are far too numerous to mention, but these tend to be much too down market and local whereas the above mentioned nicely straddle the gap as is testified by the diverse patronage of admittedly Ugandans from all walks of life.

Early on this year, we chanced to stop by Luwombo Restaurant and were pleasantly surprised to find a newly refurbished place. It was more attractive than before, the staff pleasant and nicely dressed and the food worth every penny.

The menu that is never published and is always spoken litany comprises luwombo of chicken, goat or ground nuts with dry fish. This is served with matooke and accompanied with pumpkin, sweet potatoes, cassava posho, rice, among others.

Our chicken luwombo was generous in portions while the sauce (often a tricky affair and scanty at best) was brimming much to our delight and there was nothing to fault in this regard.

The accompaniments were indeed par for the course and for a tenner you can never go wrong at this joint.

If you go...

Place: Luwombo Restaurant
Location: Busabala Road
The space: Small but clean and recently refurbished
The crowd: Locals from around as well as devotees of the joint who appreciate paying for a good meal for a tenner where others would charge Shs 15,000/- for a similar meal
The bar: Soda and juice
The type of food: As one would expect luwombo dishes are their specialties
The check: Lunch for two including two soft drinks is around Shs 25,000/-
Parking: Available
What we liked: The food is consistently good and well prepared while the portions are just right.
If you go: Daily
Ratings: Worth a visit
RATINGS: Not to be missed, worth a visit, OK/so so, don’t waste your time.