Venue review: Club Sidai Oleng, Kiambu Road
It was Friday night when I made my way into the Club Sidai Oleng on Kiambu Road. The fame of this place has been going around and I had to see what the fuss was all about. After being frisked at the door as you expect nowadays, I walked into the huge complex and tried to figure out my surroundings. To the left there was the venues kitchen area with many in the white coats that we associate with butchers going about their business. I therefore turned right and went in noticing there was wood as a huge component of the building. There was a little dance floor area where a white man was dancing with one of two others and I opted to sit down in that area observing the dancers.
I grabbed one of the waitresses who were running around in their red T-shirts with Coca Cola and asked for a cold beer which retailed at Sh200. This isn’t too bad in Nairobi where beer is almost more expensive that the price of oil. I had noted that the venue had WiFi available but our waitress took off before I could ask her for the password – this means I can’t report on how decent the connection is. All I know is the WiFi is available.
I settled down to my cold beverage and looked around me. The people who were drinking here with me were a mix of younger and more mature between the 20s and the late 40s. Even with this variance in age, this venue was clearly not designed for the very young. At one corner there was a DJ booth with someone spinning the music. The interesting thing for me was that even with audience being slightly older, they didn’t seem to enjoy the rumba music loved by many in the 1980s and 1990. As soon as the DJ put a track from that period, the dance floor cleared until he started playing the Nigerian, South African, Tanzanian cocktail of African music hits we now love.
A quick recap of the venue:
Good: Decent décor and service, a dancefloor should you feel the need to shake your legs, clean washrooms, TV for the sports mad, WiFi available
Bad: That wood exterior doesn’t really inspire should something like a fire break out.
My verdict: It’s a bit of a throwback to the time when the makuti places ruled the Nairobi night scene. If you are a certain age you will love it. #Rated.