How do you know a place is new? The proprietor is at the door when you arrive. He is holding a smile and a polite word. “Hi, folks” he says, “welcome, do you have a reservation, or can I get you a table for two?” All nods. A new place is - in many ways - like the first few dates of a new relationship. Hopeful, eager. On its best behaviour.
Ara - Redhill Road, Astrol Square - is visually disarming. Greens everywhere. Low lounge chairs. Hanging lights. A generous window overlooking what appears to be a vacant lot someone has kindly fenced off - hopefully not for another architectural crime.
We had gone looking for a digestif. Someone had eaten heroically elsewhere. Truthfully, we were hunting for a bar - somewhere with a counter to lean on. Is it not always good to take a shot at the counter? But this Latin American eatery isn’t that species. It’s built for dates.
The kind of place you take a girl and she instinctively knows you didn’t discover it alone. Someone whispered it to you. Someone with Wi-Fi and a very active TikTok account.
This is to mean, it is extremely Instagrammable. This is not speculation; it is field observation. Tables of well-dressed young women laughing, angling phones, rearranging cutlery for better lighting. The menu reads like a passport stamp: smoky Brazilian grills, tacos, skewered pinchos, the works.
I asked for Fernet-Branca. The smiling proprietor paused. “You are the first person to ask for that since we opened three months ago,” he said. “If one more person asks, I’ll stock it.” So we settled for soda water and Angostura bitters. Then a double. The ambience required reinforcement.
We were there in the late afternoon. I imagine it transforms at night — lower lights, warmer shadows, music rising just enough to make you lean closer. Shame you can’t see Redhill Road from there, I bet she’s pretty at night.
It’s intimate. Just a handful of tables. The perfect dinner spot. Especially if you’re not in the mood to meet half of Nairobi.
