Uhuru Restaurant in Kampala stands a test of time
By 1962, there were just a handful of eating joints worthy of mention. At any rate, the burgeoning middle class and newly appointed public servants were not exactly the types who were into fine dining or gourmet food.
Dining out meant going to a hotel such as Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe or Speke Hotel where though the food was of no particular distinction, the place offered a wonderful ambience of having arrived.
We also used to go to Crested Crane, which was along Kampala Road and was more like a café with snacks such as samosas, chaps, cakes and the like. Where KPS is located used to be Norman Cinema and upstairs was a night club and bar cum restaurant that served food. I also recall Christos on Kampala road, somewhere near Downtown Forex Bureau, where we used to have the most sumptious pastries. Then again, how can one forget Drapers (Crane Bank) headquarters on Kampala Road, which was Kampala’s first modern department store and there used to be an elegant coffee shop on the second floor.
I also recall a Chinese joint somewhere along Dewinton Road though to be honest there was nothing whatsoever like Il Patio, or Mediterraneo much less Mama Ashanti. What was dominant at that time were the Nalongo class of ‘woteli’ that were very local and unsophisticated.
When Saad Abed, the father of Salim Saad Uhuru first arrived in Uganda from Yemen via Dar (Tanzania) sometime during the early 1960’s, a joint such as his that served exotic fare hitherto not known or eaten by locals took Kampala by storm. True that pillao had been eaten by Muslems for donkey years, but given their being a small somewhat parochial and insular community, outsiders never had a chance to taste their Pillao or chapattis. To the credit of the late Saad Abed, he realised that if he could consistently produce good food day in and day out, Ugandans from all walks of life would flock his place in large numbers. He was spot on. The family has never looked back. 
Along with his wife, Farida Saad, they acquired premises coterminous to Nakivubo Stadium courtesy of Dr George Ssali, who was a substantial landlord in that region and that is how the original Uhuru restaurant was located over on Abbey Kafumbe Road came into existence. Having decided on that location, they wisely came up with the name Uhuru which they felt was especially apt since they opened the place on Tuesday 9th October 1962.
Business was especially good during the Idi Amin era when prominent members of his administration such as Captain No Parking, Juma Butabika, Governor Nasur, and Moses Ali were regulars along with popular sports figures and a host of other Ugandans. There was a brief difficult period during Obote II when the country, and Kampala city in particular, experienced considerable instability. Those were the days when we had indiscriminate dragnets such as Panda Gari and business was at low ebb. Under those circumstances, dining became a rare luxury and for a while Uhuru shut down.
As good fortune would have it, ever since the advent of the NRM governance, business had been on the upswing to the point where new branches in the City Centre have been opened and with development comes autonomy. Some years back, Salim decided to part ways with the main Uhuru Nakivubo Restaurant and go solo without being tied to the apron strings of his parents.