No surprises to look up to

Restaurant review. You will not find all tribes of fish at Fisherman’s Village on Entebbe Road, however, you will be able to indulge yourself in the tasty food.

The first thing that came to our mind when we came across Fisherman’s Village on the Entebbe road at Namulanda, was that it was a place where fish of every description is to be found in abundance.
Surprisingly with a little bit of imagination, the owners of this joint could have easily come up with several different types of fish commonly found in Uganda and justified the use of the name.

What a difference it would have made to revellers and diners alike to be able to choose from a menu comprising Semutundu, Kasulu Bana, Nile Perch and a few others.
Admittedly, and to their credit, they did offer a poached fish; something more akin to be found at the Serena Kampala Hotel than at a roadside diner in Uganda. For some odd reason that I can never quite fathom, the rule in local places is to serve fried fish period! However, I would be remiss in not pointing out that fish of many kinds generally respond favourably to deep fat frying or pan fried (sautée) so no wonder that Ugandans are mad about this method of cooking and serving fish.

After perusing the menu we settled for fish fingers and chips for the little one, while fellow trencherman and I ordered the roast stuffed fish and fried goat’s meat. I was curious as to what type of stuffing the chef would come up with; after all, I am not so sure that this is a common item.

To our delight, on this occasion the rice dressing was the chef’s choice and he had chosen to use boiled rice embellished with bread crumbs, freshly chopped celery, nutmeg, pepper, salt, milk and just a hint of cheese. I missed the bacon, which would have added much fillip to an otherwise very successful combination. The fish fingers were perfectly done while the goat meat lacked seasoning and came out rather bland. With goat, marination is the generally advisable and, in most cases, will actually render the goat tender which is an invaluable asset.

The service is good and the lady maître’d happily goes about her job with a smile and a cheer, and ensures that guests are seated and served without much ado.
The ambiance left a lot to be desired and one got the impression that not only had corners been cut in terms of décor, the furniture was shabby and second rate. The saving grace was the prices which are low by Kampala standards and par for the course.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com