Awarding Great Service and Quality, the Kampala Restaurant Awards #KRA2015

When one talks about Uganda, they cannot fail to talk about her delicious delicacies and vast culture that have truly made the statement “Pearl of Africa” a reality. Due to the fact that Uganda has witnessed stability and peace in the region, this East African land locked country is among some of the world’s finest destinations for tourists and investors. The voluminous tribes and cultures in Uganda largely contribute to the different cuisines that are served in Uganda’s restaurants. 

There are many restaurants raging from African, Asian, Italian and Chinese, located in the different parts of Uganda. In Kampala there are plenty of high and low end restaurants allover preparing international cuisines and local foods like Matooke and Ground nut paste from the central region, millet, sweet potatoes with Eboo lo esudud (mixture of ground nuts and greens) from the East, Atapa with oddi from the North, to mention but a few. Do not be surprised to find some restaurants with Indian, Chinese, Lebanese and Turkish dishes on the Menu! Wines and soft drinks may be part of the menu

 24/7 fast food points and takeaways are also charming places to enjoy the best of Uganda’s cooking and get fast foods at all times of the day. Service at such points is quick and frequently gets busy during the lunch hours and dinner times. Numerous restaurants have relative food prices ranging between USD 2.5 and 50 USD depending on the location of the restaurant. Some restaurants have menus with price tag for different foods; this is good if you want to stay within your planned budget. You can as well ask for the food costs if they are not on the menu. Most restaurants in Uganda allow cash only. However several restaurants are adopting the new Electronic payment methods as well.

In a bid to reward great service quality and customer care, leading online food ordering and delivery Platform Hellofood Uganda (www.hellofood.ug) and Done Deal (www.donedeal.ug) have organized the Kampala Restaurant Awards scheduled for 25^thNovember 2015 at Kampala Serena Hotel. “We are passionate and excited about the restaurant industry in Uganda and we want to be part of the development in this sector. The Kampala Restaurant Awards are our way to show support and reward the industry.” said the organizers. 

The Kampala Restaurant Awards have been created to honor restaurants, cafes and bars that are committed to delivering exceptional service, high quality food, and value for money, amazing eating atmosphere, authenticity, creativity and innovation. These awards will reward the best restaurants in the following categories;

Restaurant of the Year Award

This award is for the overall best dining experience, encompassing great attention to detail, a well- structured, balanced and appropriate menu, value for money, amazing food, exemplary customer service and a wonderful atmosphere.

Best Customer Service Award

This award is for the best overall customer service. The winner must have gone beyond and above the call of duty to its customers with great style and consistence.

Best Value for Money Award

This award recognizes the restaurant that is well structured with a balanced and appropriate menu. What makes this category special is that services must be affordable to all clients which keep them coming back for the services.

Best Indian Cuisine Award

This award is to the most reliable Indian Restaurant providing the best overall experience of India in Kampala based on food and atmosphere.

Best Ugandan Cuisine Award

This category will recognize the restaurant with the most faithful Ugandan food that offers the overall best experience of Ugandan Culture. A well balanced menu of Ugandan food and consistence in delivering great services is a requisite too.

Best Asian Cuisine Award

This award will recognize the best restaurant that offers the most dependable restaurant services that bring back the best Asian experiences in Kampala. The experiences can be from China, Japan, Korea and many other Asian countries.

Best Pizzeria Award

Whether the choice is an Italian or American pizza, this award will go to the restaurant that offers the best Pizzeria services and awesome value for money.

Best Food on the Go Award

This will be awarded to the eatery with the best “on the go” service. The winner must be a go to eatery for everything fast for Example; fast coffee, breakfast and food.

Best Café/Deli Award

This category will recognize the café that strives to provide the best coffee experience, great light food and snacks. The winner must have a great café menu using ethically sourced ingredients and delivering outstanding customer service within a great environment.

Best bar Food Award

This award goes to the bar that offers an impressive selection of food that suitably compliments unique service experience.

Best Fine Dining Award

This award seeks to recognize the restaurant that offers the best casual dining and fine dining experience depending on the client’s preference encompassing superb value, an excellent menu, remarkable service and the most outstanding, balanced and complementing wine menu in combination with genuine hostility.

“Best of Africa” Cuisines Award

This award seeks to recognize the best restaurant business that offers cuisines from the rest of Africa. The award will go to the restaurant that offers the best of foods from the different parts of Africa in the heart of Kampala.

Best New Restaurant

Best New restaurant will recognize the best new comer that offers impressive experience, excellent menu with variety and the best value for money. The winner must have had a significant impact on the industry within a short time.

Best Beer Brand Award

Uganda is a great beer nation w3ith a selection of local and international brands. There is no doubt; the beer culture in Uganda is evolving. Beer is a great component of the dinning and food culture in Uganda. The Best Beer Brand Award seeks to recognize the most popular, familiar and regularly asked for beer in restaurants.

Best Wine Brand

Uganda is still in its infant stages of embracing the wine culture. Nevertheless there are some great wine brands on the market and these deserve to be recognized. The winner of this category must be the most familiar and popular wine brand in Kampala.

With all the above categories, the organizers, Hellofood Uganda also decided to set up an award to recognize the most outstanding digital partner for excellent service, food delivery and value for money. This is a very exciting season for all those in the restaurant industry in Kampala most especially those that have been nominated in the different award categories.

Uganda has seen several kinds of awards come up in different industries but many collapse shortly after their break through. It’s my prayer that the Kampala Restaurant Awards are here to stay and grow the restaurant industry in Uganda. Since the restaurant industry provides employment to many Ugandans and market for many farmers producing both on large and small scale. Due to the above important aspects in the growth of our economy, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all the partners that have decided to take the tough decisions of sponsoring these awards despite the tough current economic time.

As a renowned food lover, I would like to say thank you to MTN Uganda, Pepsi, Shell Gas, Robertson Winery, Brussels Airlines, Sanyu FM, Done Deal and Hellofood Uganda.

Please visit www.kampalarestaurantawards.ug to vote for your favorite restaurant in Kampala. Voters can also use the text message channel by Sending KRA space then Nominee and send to 6933. It’s everybody’s desire to see the restaurant industry grow and increase the number of job opportunities and market for Ugandan food produces.

By Mwebya Fred

mwbyfred@gmail.com
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