Restaurant: Hakuna Matata, Kampala, Uganda

This place or actually places is one of my favorites when in Kampala. Hakuna Matata has about 5 -6 outlets spread in the town and its suburbs. If you love pork this is for sure the place to go. You cant miss the place as all of them have the same white tiling style in all the places. The tiles might be broken and in different white and style but this adds to the ambiance.

They serve fire roasted pork and if you are a Pork Ribs lover then you better hit the spot at noon as after that they will be finished. After that the focus is on the pork sticks with 4-5 nice pieces of roasted pork. You just order by the stick and one costs 2000 Ughs. You will get them served with some Matoke, Kassava ,Avocado and salads. Oh and dont forget the nice hot Chilly salt on the side.

If you want you can also order some Katcumbali (dont know how to spell it but thats what it sounds like). This is finely chopped tomatoes and Red onions mixed up.

For those who dont eat pork some of the outlets also have roasted Goat or chicken but the place is definetely a pork place.

They do takeaway also but make sure to be in the kitchen when they pack it so you know what you get as the waitresses sometimes get confused.

For the night rumblers and party animals this is a good place to end the night at. Even though the place might look closed you can still pass through to the kitchen and wake up one of the guys/girls there to get some sticks. I have been there at sunrise on several occasions and the fire is still going so it takes a few minutes. A good way to minimize the hangover ;-)

Bar: Bubble's or O'leary's Pub, Kololo, Kampala, Uganda

This place is definitely a hit among the many expats in Kampala. Being in Kololo area the drinks have a higher price in general but if you intend to order a lot of drinks it might be wise to order a bottle of alcohol directly. On a weekend the crowd can be fun but you can also find a lot of obnoxious whites from a certain southern country who now think they own the place, if not the whole of Kampala. Don't get me wrong, there is also a lot of others from the same place who are much more pleasant, down to earth and enjoying life.

The place has a big outside are and a much smaller inside area thus if you have a big crowd with you the garden ends up being the place to be. The DJ is though doing a good job of ensuring the music is heard everywhere so the place can be moving.
More often though it is a standing with the drink in the hand place.

Bubbles had its peak among the bars a few years back and has not recovered back to its initial glory again. It is however a place well worth a visit on the weekends.

Bar: Al's Bar, Half London, Kampala, Uganda

Al's used to be one of my favorite spots. No, not because of the girls but rather the good mix of Heavy metal, Hard Rock and Rock music the place used to play. You might still end up hearing a good mix of songs but most of the time Mr. Al himself seems to have a tendency to start playing soft rock and tell anyone who don't agree to F#%$ off so he can hear his music. That is a good recipe for scaring away a lot of people. Some people think wrongfully a guy called Raj owned the place. Duh! it's called Al's for a reason. However he at one stage hired Raj to manage the place and that was a very good thing for the club. As most things in Kampala that did not last long though.

The place somehow though still appeal to a lot of expats especially in the late hours so I wonder what the drive is? ;-)

Dont get me wrong you might end up on a night and have blast but most of the time it has become a boring place. It remains the end of the road pub for many party animals who after heading to Capital Pub and some or other nightclub end up there somewhere around 4 -6 o'clock in the morning before finally calling it a night.. or rather morning. Whatever you do don't go early as you will find the place completely empty.

Al's just as Capital Pub does not close until the last customer leaves.

The same thing goes as in any drinking spot in Kampala, if you don't want attention from the girls, do NOT buy them a drink. Al's tend to be more rough than most other places in Kampala and girls sometimes crash bottles on each other while fighting over a guy.

One thing which still need ot be proved but has become a frequent notion about the place is that the drinks are watered down.

For those of you who want to find the place just head to Kansanga and look for the"Dark side of the Moon" sign.

Bar: Capital Pub, Kabalagala, Kampala, Uganda

Located in the notorious Kabalagala this Bar, Pub, almost nightclub, pool hall has maintained the slot as the number 1 drinking spot in Kampala. Bars come and go and what is new and IN dies or is way NOT SO IN after only 6 months in this African Capital.

The same can not be said about Capital Pub. While many international agencies have it listed among the no-go zone places it is a Pub that since forever manage to get full by midnight on any night!! There are a number of expats that go to this place and while there might be a lot of opportunist girls there you will be quite ok as long as you don't buy them a beer. You have been warned! Visitors often think all girls in the place are prostitutes and this is not true so beware. It has a good mix of people from all aspects of life in Uganda but there is for sure less Mzungu's than you would find in some other places thus you can see more from Ugandan party life instead.

I have only seen 3 fights in the pub and those were very short lived and in all instances I ended up having a wall of local guys/girls between me and the people fighting. Not because I would be something special but rather because I treat everyone with respect. If you play pool you will never know if you are playing with a Minister or a boda-boda driver, it is just people having fun.

If you tell me you have been to Kampala and you missed this place then sorry , you have NOT been to Kampala and seen the nightlife.

There is no way to not have fun in Capital Pub whether you just want to play pool, listen to music, dancing, watching football ( no not the American stopwatch game), Rugby or go dancing.

The place has grown and seems to expand each year as they keep buying up properties around. The main interesting feature of the bar itself is that the center bar is built around a tree that is still alive. Thus the place is kind of not inside and kind of not outside either.

As with some of other of the good places Capital Pub does not close until the last customer leaves. If that happens to be at 1000 in the morning, so be it.

Friday and Saturday nights they want to charge entrance or parking fees but if you are a good client then you can make your way without paying anyway. The entrance fees where put there to act as a simple stop for thieves and people who for sure will not even buy a soda.

Drinks are cheap in Capital Pub so its a good place to start a party evening before moving on to a Disco down town.

Music-wise they have a DJ every night and the DJ changes most nights and so does the theme of the night.

As a party spot I give it 5 out of 5 every time.

Warning! As in any place in Uganda do not leave a drink out of sight, people have been poisoned and as far being out in any town common sense is a good thing to not loose track of.

Restaurants: Haandi Indian Restaurant, Kampala, Uganda

This Indian restaurant is what I would consider the best Indian food you can get in Kampala, Uganda. It has been operating for as long as I can remember and have been able to keep consistency in the food, even if not in the prices ;-)

To get a good dinner costs around 50,000 - 70,000 Ugsh these days for 2 people and that includes having a beer or a Cocktails with the dinner. This would include Masala Papadums, 1 Non vegetarian dish, one vegetarian dish, Biriyani Rice, Mixed Raita and some Garlic Nans. Definetely enough food for 2 hungry people.

The price would dramatically change if you take one of their specialties like the Tandoori Grilled Prawns starter. That one alone will set you back as much as a whole dinner but it has been worth it so far. I only know of one occasion in 10 years when the prawns where not fresh.

Unless the host girls know you as a good customer they will for sure seat you in the runway between the kitchen and tables even if the restaurant is open. This is also the case if you brought an African girl as a Mzungu (as they seem to assume a lot ;-)

Thus it pays to be persistent to get a good table next to the Windows outside.

A good sign about the quality of the food is that you will for sure see at least 20 Indians eating there same time on any night.

Finding parking outside is easy. Just park on the non-parking space and give the guards a 1000 Ugsh and you can be sure the car is there on return.

The "not so" lonely planet created why?

This is the start of a new blog by travelers for travelers who already have an extensive collection of presumably good travel handbooks. Handbooks that 20 or so years ago really was for the active shoestring and backpacker travelers but now have ended up being too commercial with skewed reporting based on the need to get sponsors.

The author himself has a lot of handbooks yet on arrival in the extensive amount of travels undertaken the last 20 odd years there is still a gap between what is reported and what should be experienced in the various places.

For a place to be reviewed in this blog the author or travelers that he knows or who he sees have a down to earth, not judgmental knowledge about places visited. This irrespective if it might be a hotel, restaurant, bar, night club or any other establishment. What is important is that any review is based on a real traveler feeling rather than the commercial (ill give you a review as you gave me good service, as you know ill write for this book... magazine. type of review.)