Top View Restaurant is located in Muhima, past the Tigo roundabout, along the cobbled stone road that leads to the Okapi Hotel. Although located by the street, it is almost hidden away from view, thanks to the heavily branded walls and street displays in front of nearby hardware shops. The signpost is almost invisible from the street, but who said that anybody is complaining? If anything, the core clientele prefer to call the restaurant by the owner’s name –Maria. That said, it is one of those restaurants that obviously thrives on repeat business and word of mouth. You go there, like the place, go back a second time and/or tell a friend. Maria has run the eatery from the same location since 1995, when she settled back from Uganda. Fellow returnees in her circle formed the first crop of her clientele then, and some of these have stuck with her to this day. Needless to say, the general setting and mode of food preparation draws heavily from that in the typical Ugandan downtown eatery. Its prime location aside, the restaurant derives its reputation from a dedication to boiled foods –beef, goat, chicken, fish, beans, and ground nut sauce. All served with rice, matooke, posho, sweet potatoes, yam, pumpkin and the main attraction--Umutsima (millet bread or akalo in Luganda). Talking of akalo, which is rather popular in Uganda, it was my first time to try it in Kigali, which has a better reputation for ubugali (cassava mill), instead. We arrived at 10:50 am and made our orders, and were swiftly informed they would be ready in 30 minutes. We both settled for boiled goat meat, which I accompanied with akalo and steamed rice, served with a side-dish of greens. Both the food and the sauce arrived piping hot, and as for the akalo, the presentation was tight, making it good to just look at. All I could do was forage for my camera and snap away. The meats go for the standard rate of Rwf 2,600, while beans and G.nut sauce will cost you Rwf 600 less. My guest paired his goat with chapatti, something that I later observed at several other tables. The chapattis go for Rwf 300, and people either eat them with sauce, over a glass of fresh juice, or have them packed for take-away. I settled for a 500 ml glass of fresh and chilled passion juice, and when I learnt it was just Rwf 400, swiftly ordered for another. After my early lunch, all I could do was wish that they had a bed rest facility back door, because I could neither stand up from my seat nor think straight.
