Whisky, ritual, and the politics of familiarity in a Nairobi uptown bar

Cedars Bar and Restaurant along Lenana road in Nairobi.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

Do you sometimes feel like a part of a sunken ship that floats about willy-nilly and no matter how far it drifts it ends up on a certain shore each time? That’s what I thought when I ended up at Cedars Bar in Nairobi's Kilimani to meet a friend.

It felt like I had been washed ashore. I was meeting an old friend who used to frequent the bar. The kind of fellow who sits down and his drink is served in a precise sequence without him ordering: one sparkling wine, another one after 30 minutes, a double whisky, another double after 40 minutes. A renaissance man.

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