Our Story
Amara Osei
Head Chef & Co-Founder
Amara grew up between Accra and Nairobi, trained in London's fine dining scene, and spent a decade mastering the craft before returning to East Africa. At Moto, she cooks with the ingredients she grew up eating — but over open flame, with the precision of a chef who's worked the hardest kitchens in the world.
Daniel Karanja
Managing Director & Co-Founder
Daniel built his career in Nairobi's hospitality industry, managing some of the city's most respected venues. He handles everything that isn't the kitchen — operations, service, expansion — with the belief that great restaurants are built on consistency, not spectacle.
Fire First
We don't use fire as a gimmick. It's not a theme — it's how we cook. An open flame gives you something an oven never can: char, smoke, unpredictability, life. We source our beef from Kenyan ranches, our fish from Lake Victoria and the Indian Ocean, our vegetables from farms outside each city. Then we let the fire do what it does.
The menu blends East African ingredients with international technique — not to impress, but because the combination is honest. It's the food Amara and Daniel grew up eating, cooked the way they learned to cook it. No fusion gimmicks. No shortcuts.
Every cut of meat is grilled over charcoal. Every vegetable passes through the fire. Every fish is wood-smoked or flame-roasted. The fire is always visible from the dining room because we have nothing to hide.
"Everything we cook, the fire touches first."
Moto means fire in Swahili — a word understood from Mombasa to Kigali, from Dar es Salaam to Kampala. It felt right.
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