Skip to main content

Nairobi's Top 4 Texas Brisket Places Reviewed and Ranked

Brisket on a bed of roast vegetables with barbecue sauce at Texas Brisket, Kikuyu 

This review has been updated after a number of you suggested I try the brisket at County2County. 

What's the best place to have Brisket in Nairobi? What's even brisket? 

Brisket is one of the toughest cuts in a cow, from around the belly. It is so tough that it has to be smoked for about 16 hours to tenderise. But that there, is the catch. 

12 to 16 hours later, it is the most flavourful and softest cut you will ever have. So full of flavour and so soft you can pick it apart with your fingers. 

However, due to the long cooking time involved, only a few places offer brisket in Nairobi. 

The best so far is Texas Brisket which is located within Kikuyu Railway station. 

They do the meat for a proper 16 hours, and will usually have a fatty or non-fatty portion. The fatty portions are more tasty. A 500 gram serving goes for KSh. 900 and a 1 KG order comes with a serving of free fries. Their brisket has a well smoked exterior coupled with a very juicy interior and is served on a bed of roast vegetables. 

Texas Brisket is also the most affordable. If going there past noon on a Saturday, it is advisable to book your order as the brisket is popular and runs out quite early. 

Coming highly recommended is Bali's Best along Magadi Road, next to Total Magadi Road. Despite it being highly recommended even ahead of Texas Barbecue, it still has some way to go to match our reigning number one.

Bali's Best brisket does sport a rich smoky and beefy flavour,  and the meat was tender and juicy. The brisket is presented on a hot skillet alongside roast vegetables and a barbecue sauce. Servings start at KSh. 1,000 for half a kg with no accompaniment.  A single chips servings is KSh. 250.


Taking third place is County2County in Westlands along Westlands Road helped along by its balanced smokey,  beefy flavour with the bits of fat rendering to the rich taste. It could do with a little more tenderness though. 


Brisket at County2County with coleslaw along Westlands Road

County2County prices their brisket at 1,900 shillings for half a kilo with accompaniment, and 3,000 for a full KG with no accompaniment, again making it pricier to our first 2 contenders. They serve brisket on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The brisket is served with a barbecue sauce, some red cabbage coleslaw and a choice of fries,  wedges or ugali.


The smoker at County2County


Fourth ranked is Smokehouse Barbeque located at Saifee Park around Bogani Lane in Karen. The cuts are a little tough and might need more time in the smoker. Other than the chewiness, they still pack the flavour of a nice brisket. Pricing starts at KSh. 1,000 for a quarter KG (250 grams) and KSh. 1,600 for 400 grams. A little bit more smoke and they move higher up the ranking. 


Brisket at Smokehouse, Saifee Park 

(See note below about Barbeque Pit) At fifth place in our ranking are Barbeque Pit, located in Nairobi West opposite T Mall, at Magharibi Place. Interesting enough, according to my very trusted reviewer, they had the best spiced brisket. They however need more hours on the grill to make the cut and move higher up the ranking.

A kilo at Barbeque Pit costs about 2,000 shillings. Being next to Maru's Bhajias makes for a nice accompaniment of bhajias. They however hold the highest promise if they were to hold that meat to the smoke just for a little bit longer. Should they hit the 16 hours promised time, their brisket threatens to overthrow the hallowed Texas Brisket. 

That wraps up our Nairobi Brisket Review. If you really want to have Brisket, I recommend you head over to Texas Brisket in Kikuyu or to Bali's Best along Magadi Road. 

County2County and Smokehouse are great alternatives, though you'll want to insist the smoking takes a little longer. 

Favouring County2County is the proximity to town/Westlands. By the time of updating this piece, it appears Nairobi Barbecue Pit no longer offer the brisket. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A to Z of Girl Pick-up Lines

Girl,  You are like a breath of fresh air , like an outstanding piece of Art in an art gallery  There are many things you and me can be, but it puts a smile of satisfaction on my face and a smile of envy on my buddies faces that you both beautiful and bootyfull  E ither your creator must have taken the greatest care creating you or your cheated your way around heaven, 'coz you clearly the prettiest girl on earth  D on't ask why my breathing quickens every time I see you; setting my eyes on you makes me feel like I am drowning in your beauty, I have to catch my breath   Exciting, Exotic, Elegant, Electrifying ; so many definitions in english , but when it comes to the human race, girl, you are the one and only definition of all the above  W hen I say you are fly , it may be due to the sensation of flying off the ground that I get when I am around you. Some girls are beautiful, a few are decent, even fewer got class; I didn't know I could find all this qualities in one gir
Post a Comment
Read more

Kenyan products: The art of punishing your consumer

This post was written in 2011. Facts may have and indeed have changed - but the conclusion has not.  Dormans instant coffee tastes better than Sasini instant coffee. Ramtons electronics are manufactured for Kenya's Hypermart Limited, yet maintain a high product quality Peanut butter used to taste so good, but you could not afford it on the pocket money that you got back in school. A few years later, you have your first real job and your first "disposable" income. You buy your first real tub of peanut butter, probably the first in your life. You feel proud that Dominion peanut butter is manufactured in Ruiru, a town that you visited in your campus days to withdraw your pocket money, it was the nearest bank ATM to your campus.  This was before Equity bank became a mainstream bank and decided to open an ATM in your campus, and before M-Pesa meant that you
Post a Comment
Read more

Beers in Kenya: A sober opinion

Note: This is a dated post and has since been mostly passed by events. SAB Miller beers including Castle and Peroni are no longer widely available in Kenya after their exist. Sirville Brewery was bought out by Brew Bistro before being permanently shut in a tax dispute. Kenya is a land of milk, honey, beaches and taxes. I have penned, or is typed, a newer post here .  Peroni - One of the best beers in Kenya. Did a taste of canned and bottled Italian, and bottled Tanzanian I like the tangy flavour and body in Tanzanian Peroni. The can is close. Heineken drinkers will like the Italian one.  I have had a short beer swigging stint in my life. It has however been long enough for me to share my opinion of Kenyan beer. Interestingly, over the course of sharing such opinions with other drunkards connoisseurs,  I have found that we all have different views as to what beer is the best, which one makes you too drunk, or which one gives one free, extra hangover for every hangover you get
Post a Comment
Read more

Lusaka and Livingstone Zambia to Namibia By Road

Zambia is a pretty large country,  an exciting one and with no shortage of potholes.  For instance, take the direct route from Lusaka - Livingstone to Namibia through the Sesheke - Katima Mulilo border crossing. Typically, roads are either good or tend to have potholes here and there. However, the last 120 kilometres of the Livingstone to Sesheke/Katima Mulilo route are best described as potholes dotted by some road here and there for the just thirty kilometres past Kazungula town, which is also the Zambia - Botswana border crossing.  Trying to drive to Sesheke is so bad it will take you anywhere between 4 hours to 6 hours to navigate those 100 kilometres. You may or may not have your dignity at the end and your vehicle may be in more than one piece.  If you really must use the Sesheke - Katima Mulilo crossing as of December 2022, then take the 900 kilometre longer detour from Lusaka to Mongu then back to Katima Mulilo. It doesn't guarantee you absence of potholes, but at least the
Post a Comment
Read more