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I know people who love keeping secrets. It gives them a feeling of security or, in some other cases, perhaps some perverted sense of power.
“I know what you don’t know. He he he,” their smirks seem to communicate.
As another writer on the Gorilla Highlands blog once humorously revealed, local African cultures value tight-lipped individuals and despise big-mouthed weaklings. They are in fact so discreet that they would rather wait for a problem to explode into their faces than to openly discuss it when it is still time…
Me, I am different. Absurdly different.
For example, in primary school I would throw any bad news about my marks at my parents when they were still on the steps, before they even climbed to our flat.
So when I experience something great, I need the world to know. I am dying to share, to tell people what they shouldn’t miss. Imagine therefore my yesterday’s amusement, amazement and discomfort when there seemed to have been no mention of Preet on the entire internet…
I had listed my three favourite Kigali places to eat, I wanted to link to all of them, and Rz Manna and Meze Fresh were all over the place. Anglo-Saxons who write such things tend to cluster and follow the latest “discovery”; the one who comes first proudly plants his or her flag in a form of a social media post or a blog entry; it is in the DNA.
Yet nobody had allegedly been to Preet, in the very centre of Kigali, two years after it had opened?!
It is understandable, to a degree. Preet is not fancy, and it may demand that you make your way through one of the highest concentration of people that downtown Kigali can muster*, through the hustle and bustle of real life. Surprisingly few expats would appear to be interested in that.
On the other hand, this restaurant lies behind the main Bank of Kigali and some steps from the forex street… How on Earth has Preet not been found?!
So let us get that out of the way: one street under Bank of Kigali, close to M Peace Plaza (Makuza), somewhat off the road, in the compound locally known as “Musa”. For God’s sake, call Vipul on +250 783115997 and he will look for you!
Vipul Vyas is a skinny, pleasant man from Gujarat, 38 years old, normally dressed in jeans and a dark top. He came to Rwanda in February 2014 to pay a visit to his father in law, a man who had lived here for over 40 years. At home, Vipul had been running a successful restaurant for 15 years, and he saw an opportunity in Kigali: absolutely no purely vegetarian restaurant!
Six months later he returned and began to cook. Literally. Vipul is anything but bossy, he is hands-on and likes to teach, so he began with three local staff and cooked with them. He started very much from scratch; he had to learn some Kinyarwanda first. In a year, his employees were ready to take over the kitchen. Vipul could then focus on supervision and customer service, something his friendly nature is perfect for.
Six months ago, she joined him. Preeti. The one he named his “fastfood & restaurant” after. His wife’s name means “love”, and all Vipul did was to remove the last letter. They also have a 9-year daughter who goes to school in Kigali.
By the end of 2016, Vipul’s little place had gotten a more impressive counter, the number of staff had increased to 11 and there is no lack of potential customers. There are 2,300 Indians registered in Rwanda and some would not touch a place that also does meat.
Preet’s other selling points are quick preparation, great quality and astonishingly affordable prices. My personal favourite, the dabeli sandwich, is RWF 700 (less than a dollar), the most popular dish, thali, only RWF 2,500.
Vipul also says that his reasonably sized cups of Indian tea that go for RWF 300 only are increasingly popular with Rwandans. Once local people accept that food without nyama can taste great and trust Vipul not to make it super spicy, they get impressed and keep coming back.
When will you come and try it out? Every day from 8am to 8:30pm please… They only close on Sundays for half a day, from 2pm. I know I always run there the first moment I reach Kigali…
Vipul is luckily planning to stay. He finds Rwandans very nice people, his family feels safe and secure, and the business keeps growing. Especially after this blog post, right?
* In Kampala they would call that a quiet Sunday crowd…
text: Miha Logar
