EnterUganda

. Kampala, Uganda.

By Timothy Bukumunhe

Sardinia Pub, Dewinton Road is terrifyingly cold
Let's be fair to them. Sardinia can't really be as bad as you make it out to be in the title.
There is something about the pubs on Dewinton Road that I just can't fathom. Sardinia Pub is one of those places that I am sure has been on Dewinton road since the beginning of time. It may have once been a thriving and happening place, but sadly it has refused to move with the times. Its exterior presents a dull an uninviting image and once you get inside, you find that it is extremely cold. Apart from that, it's dark, almost like rambling beneath the caves on the edge of Kisoro town near Kabale.

Refused to move with the times?
Walking into Sardinia is like walking into a gigantic box that has been discarded on a KCC scrap heap. I heard that when a new manager tried to spruce up the place some time back, he was given his marching orders. The bar area is fitted out in dull wood and, strangely enough, the ceiling above the bar is decked out in red and once-white kitchen-type tiles. In the corner, on the bar, is an antique television that is not compatible with a remote control and is on its last legs - it no longer shows a full screen.

The main seating area has chairs like the ones my grandmother had back in the 60's. It resembles the living room in the old television show The Walton's. The foam in them is gone and you can feel the wooden bars beneath. And as if to emphasize its age, the cloth has lost all its colour.

Oh no, oh no. Can we skip some bits and move on?
If you walk through to the back, past the bar, you pass a makeshift ironing board (on top of a fridge) and past the kitchens to the toilets, you will stumble upon a box of new-born kittens, fast asleep. Across from the bar area is a dining room which, like the bar area, lacks in appeal. This time instead of using wood as a wall cladding they opted for bamboo. Also like the bar area, they have the one solitary Pilsner 'Big and Bold' poster. A lunch buffet - traditional African foods - is served there during the working week until 3:00pm.

You know Tim, it all boils down to finances. Will lunch and a drink in there break my bank balance and would you go back there again?
That is relative. Their buffets are priced at sh5,000, which is about the norm for Kampala these days. Beer goes at sh1,400, coke at sh600 and quarter Uganda Wa at sh3,500. Will those figures break your bank balance?
As for whether I would go back there? I am generally not fussy about where I have my drink.

THE GOOD POINTS: If you are not too bothered about ambience, it's a good place to hang out.
THE BAD POINTS: Being stuck in time.
THE TOILETS: Not done up well, but nevertheless clean.
THE CROWD: On the Tuesday I was there, some tourist-type people, a sad man in the corner and an old lady muttering to herself. A number of MPs and military personnel drink there, plus people who work across the road at the National Theatre.
SARDINIA is located on Dewinton Road and is open all week from mid-morning till late. Reservations are not required.

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