Nairobi, Aug. 6 -- There is something deeply suspicious about grown African men throwing birthday parties. It sits in the same uncomfortable corner as telling another man, "Goodnight". I learned that lesson the hard way one chilly evening after a long phone call with comedian Eddie Butita.

"Goodnight, brother," I said. He smacked his lips in disbelief.

"Uniambiaje mwanaume mwenzako goodnight? We acha hizo bana, umeangusha gangster points." (How do you tell another man goodnight? Come on, you've just lost your gangster points.)

That was the exact feeling that crept down my spine when John Christopher invited me to celebrate his 40th birthday at Red Ginger.

Red Ginger is Nairobi's newest dining hotspot, the kind of place where every soc...