Last week I, with a handful of other local bloggers and our respective plus ones (in my case, my husband), attended an evening at Giraffe World Kitchen, located in Festival Place in Basingstoke. I was literally saying to my husband a few weeks ago about how I/we hadn’t been to a Giraffe restaurant in ages, years even, and then low and behold an email popped into my inbox!
Giraffe World Kitchen is having an exciting new rebrand and to celebrate, I (and others) had been invited in order to sample food and drinks from the delicious menu!
As said, I haven’t been to a Giraffe (World Kitchen) restaurant in probably a few years, and I think the last time was at the airport before jetting off to India. Walking in to the restaurant in Festival Place, the place was warm and inviting, and I loved the lighting. Customers are seated amongst a mixture of tables and chairs, and booths, but it has a great feeling of being open but not exposed which I think is important for many diners.
Arriving at Giraffe World Kitchen, Festival Place on Tuesday evening, we were shown to a long table as opposed to a table for two (which to be fair is what we were expecting), and within a short time the table began to fill with others ready to sample some of the new menu… and boy were we fed!
The Menu
As you will soon discover, the (new) menu is extensive and I think adequately covers a variety of dietary requirements. As a vegetarian who also dips more than just a toe into plant-based eating, I felt I had a good amount of choices and none of them boring… no plain tomato pasta in sight you’ll be delighted to know!
Drinks
Beginning with drinks, my husband and I started with a Mojito, and a pomegranate Bellini, and later both ordered a lemonade each because we wanted something to cleanse our palate before dessert. All very tasty and all I’m saying is if a restaurant can’t make a good Mojito, it’s got problems. Fortunately, the Mojito was top notch as was the Bellini!
Highly recommend the lemonade!
Nibbles and Starters
When I go out to eat, nine times out of ten I am a main and pudding kinda’ gal but sometimes it’s nice to have something to nibble on while you wait for your food. Oftentimes for me this will be some olives but if you’re after something more, Giraffe World Kitchen has a lovely selection of small bites to settle your rumbling stomach.
Olives
Chicken Gyoza
Salt and Pepper Squid
Edamame
Garlic Flatbread
Mains
While table space was already at a premium as it was filled with plates and little bowls, more plates and bowls arrived!
(Bottom left) Super Freekah Salad (Bottom right) Halloumi and Falafel Burger (Top) Flatbreads
Spiced Aubergine Tagine
Malaysian Laksa with tofu
Desserts
As I mentioned earlier in this post, I love finishing my meal with something sweet and all evening a big image of churros was projected in front of me across the other side of the restaurant, and to say I wasn’t excited for the churros couldn’t have been further from the truth, I love churros!
Churros and Unlimited Frozen Yoghurt
Can we take a moment to appreciate the chocolate dipping sauce please…
On the night, I likened the experience to an evening at a tapas restaurant, whereby you don’t think you are going to eat that much because the portions are so small, but in reality you always leave stuffed! (It might be worth re-highlighting here that we were trying samples of the various dishes, and not full sized portions).
A big thank you to the Festival Place team at Giraffe World Kitchen for inviting us, and if you’re looking for something a little different on your next night out I would highly recommend visiting them too!
Until next time x
