Venue Review: Heron Portico, Milimani Road

It was a Sunday afternoon and during the week the government had made some noises about the increasing the price of basic commodities which they referred to a luxuries like booze. On this weekend I went to the Heron Portico hotel off Valley Road on Milimani Road and found it locked. A security guard had to open the locked gate for me to access the venue which I didn't really appreciate.

The plan wasn't to stay for long but the rain that came forced me to rethink my plans. I asked for the hotel bar which was at the right of the entrance behind a restaurant with some friendly waitress who directed me. There at the back I espied a pub which was quite small; across from the entrance there was bar counter at the wall and I made my way there. I sat and the barman with the white shirt and black trousers behind took my order of a cold Tusker. The thing was that as I was ordering my drink I saw myself like that famous Internet meme with a cat walking through a group of mean looking dog. The meme is usually accompanied by the bible verse, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil.” Even with my fear, it turned out that the cold beverage was retailing at Sh300; Its a pricey one there although the stars in the hotel probably accounted for a bit of that.

As mentioned this place was pretty small; it would probably just hold a couple of dozen punters at any one time. Those with me that day were a couple of families with one with a gorgeous child who was drinking water with her family.

A quick recap of the venue;

Good: conveniently located, decent service and décor, clean washrooms, TV for the sports fanatics, disability friendly, escape in an emergency sorted.

Bad: very small, locked doors for what?

My verdict: For a quite drink away from prying eyes so close to town this hotel bar isn't too bad an option.