Many things attract Nairobians to Hurligham. There is that local with a classy touch called Buffet Park that invites a retinue of middle class drinkers. There is Guava Bar across Buffet Park for those searching for a differentiating crowd and ambiance, while aficionados of jazz music troop to Tamasha, a spit away from Guava which, as the name suggests, was fashioned from the guava tree.
Tamasha Hurlingham is the place to be on any given Sunday.
Other establishments along the small stretch that’s Argwings Kodhek Road in Hurlingham include Sailors, Best Western, Under the Radar and a string of Ethiopian restaurants like Habesha and Blue Nile, where you can enjoy Zigni, Firfir, Tibsi and other Ethiopian delicacies.
Indeed, Hurlingham has a big name, but it’s pretty tiny beyond the shopping centre.
Did you know Hurlingham got its name after the sport of polo was introduced in Kenya around 1907?
Well, outdoors man Berkeley Cole, an Irish aristocrat, was the secretary of the Nairobi Polo Club besides founding Muthaiga Club as a place where he could order a drink and get it served on a ‘spotless tray.’
Cole’s drinking got the better of him and he succumbed to a heart attack at 43 in 1925.
Anyway, before Cole ‘bit cotton,’ he helped establish polo via importing ponies from Ethiopia. It was Cole who started the polo grounds around where Nairobi Hospital now stands. But did you know the surrounding was named after the Hurlingham Polo Club in Fulham, Southwest London and has remained so ever since?
Besides Nairobi, other Hurlinghams include Hurlingham Jo’burg and Buenos Aires.
