The fireplace
Beside the old bar, part of the original mud-and-wattle house that stood here long before the restaurant did.
Our Story
An old house,
and a light-bulb moment.
Talisman opened at the end of 2003. Nobody involved had ever run a restaurant.
How it began
A talisman, bought
above a shop door.
Before the restaurant there were carpets. Sharly and Ian Cameron traded kilims, pillars and old carved furniture out of Afghanistan — and it was on one of those buying trips, sitting in Bashir’s shop choosing kilims, that Sharly noticed a small triangular object hanging above the door. A talisman, he told her. To ward off evil, and to bring good luck.
In June 2003 they were driving back into Karen after a trip to Tanzania, late in the evening, knowing the fridge at home was bare. One of them said it: if Esco Bar were still open, we could have gone there. The plot had been an Italian restaurant run by a man called Mauritzio, and it had closed that March. Neither of them had ever been restaurateurs. But Ian was a natural cook, Karen was short of good places to eat, and they had a warehouse full of pillars and carved pieces to set the scene with.
How it grew
They promised each other five years, maximum. Sixteen-hour days, six days a week. It is still here more than twenty years later.
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Before 2003
Traders, not restaurateurs
Years spent sourcing carpets, kilims, pillars and old carved furniture from Afghanistan — and travelling far enough to pick up a taste for a great many other kitchens along the way. It was in Bashir’s shop, choosing kilims, that Sharly first saw a talisman hanging above the door.
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June 2003
The light-bulb moment
Driving home into Karen from Tanzania with an empty fridge, and a passing remark about a bar that had closed that March. The plot was free. The idea arrived fully formed.
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End of 2003
Talisman opens
The pillars and decorative pieces came out of storage and went straight into the rooms. Five years, they promised each other. Sixteen-hour days, six days a week.
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The early years
The fusion menu
English, Italian and French alongside Indian, Thai and Japanese — nouveau and genuinely exciting for Nairobi at the time. For the Japanese, Ian poached a very talented Kenyan chef from a city-centre restaurant, who also happened to know where to find the freshest tuna in town.
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2007
Number one in Nairobi
By the end of 2007 it had become something of a legend, and was ranked the city’s number one restaurant.
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The handover
Passed into good hands
After the death of the plot’s owner, Chris Marshal, the Camerons bought the property and put it up for sale. Two regulars who did not want to lose the place — Satyan and Stue — bought it, and run it still.
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Today
The old house, still here
Parts of the original mud-and-wattle house remain, believed to date back to Karen Blixen’s time — the fireplace beside the old bar, and the uneven wall on the way to the washrooms carrying its painted mural. Many of the original staff are still here too.
“I still love going there, and many of the original staff are there today to welcome one and all.”
Sharly Cameron · Co-founder
What has been
kept.
The uneven wall
On the way to the washrooms, carrying its painted mural. Nobody has ever been tempted to straighten it.
The essence
New owners since, and a kitchen that has grown — but the pillars, the carved pieces and the pace of the place are the ones it opened with.