Until a week ago, I knew nothing about palinka, the home-made drink from Romania. And I knew little, too, about Romania, the country in East Europe. But I needed not to worry when my guide happened to be Adrian Brinzoi. And no, I was not in Romania but in a little haven in Malindi that he and a few other business associates built.
Let us get the palinka business off the table. “This is not vodka,” Adrian tells me after he notices my grin following the first sip. “This is stronger than vodka. Ask the Russians. They know.” He is right. Palinka is described as a “traditional, high-strength Romanian fruit brandy, often made from plums, pears, or apricots” and double-distilled. And it is often sipped, not shot. “This is muratina from Romania by any other name,” I tell him.
I had left Nairobi on a rainy Sunday morning to be welcomed, an hour later, by the coastal humidity. The floods had inundated the city for days on end with no respite in sight. The quick hop to Malindi was a welcome break, the heat notwithstanding.
Adrian and I are seated on some leather seats at the lobby of the villas with a unique name, Q Boutique, the family-like haven deep inside Malindi that has become Adrian’s second home. “Would you believe this place was almost an abandoned site,” Adrian tells me about the current site that was once a low-key hotel. “Nobody believed me when I suggested that it could become a prized coastal getaway.”
I like listening to “founders’ tales” and this was going to be an interesting one too. In December 2022, just as Covid-19 was tapering off, Adrian and his family visited Malindi for the first time. He fell in love with the place, and Africa in general. The weather was nothing like he was experiencing back home in Romania. The people? “They were the most welcoming I had met,” he says.
His love of Africa did not end there. His family holiday at the neighbouring Monsoon Villa owned by a fellow Romanian ignited in him a desire to own a piece of the paradise. One day, he saw the plot next door and took a mental note. This was going to be his foray into East Africa’s hospitality scene. His holiday over, he went back to Romania where he regaled his business partners with the proposition to invest in a hospitality outlet in Africa. But he was not prepared for their reaction.
“You should have seen the look on their faces. It’s like they had seen a ghost. Nobody even gave a faint acknowledgement to my proposal,” he recalls. Adrian kept hammering the attributes of investing in Malindi to his partners for days on end. And every time, he hit a dead end. “You should just forget about the idea. Africa? No way,” they told him.
The year 2023 ended but Adrian’s dream refused to die. In 2024, he came back to Malindi, this time determined to make a move after his partners finally gave in to his persistent calls.
“The man was determined,” says Rares Popescu, one of his business partners. “You could not talk him out of the idea.”
Adrian sought the help of a manager at Monsoon fondly known as Katoto, and who knew his way around Malindi’s real estate scene. The deal with the property owner was sealed and, armed with two million euros and the help of local fundis, Adrian and his associates slowly transformed the former dilapidated villas into 31, modern residences that can hold their own globally, opening the doors to guests at the end of 2025.
Nestled in the heart of Malindi, Q Boutique is a resort that blends modern conveniences with a coastal heritage. The coastal textures and handpicked accents combine to create a welcome look, complemented by a small but stylish bar and an upper room dining area.
A large chandelier delivered from Kitengela Glass near Nairobi and assembled on site hangs in the lobby where a small makuti hut once stood.
“Incredible that these guys could manage to fit all the pieces of the mega chandelier in place without a single piece missing,” Adrian tells me. Swahili furniture that includes a large Lamu door adorn the premises, the work of artisans at Masharubu Furniture in Malindi, a workshop founded by Fernado ‘Masharubu’ Vischi and that creates some of the most authentic pieces of furniture in the coastal region.
The Malindi outlet, and the first major investment in Kenya by a Romanian, joins over a dozen more hospitality outlets with the unique brand, Q, mainly in the European country. “But why call them Q? I ask Adrian. “I just ran through the alphabet and got to Q. And I stopped. That became our brand name.”
Until recently, Malindi used to be under the shadows of its high-end cousin, Watamu, as far as luxury living is concerned. True, the area boasts of a few top-notch establishments, mostly belonging to Italians and giving Malindi the enviable tag of Little Italy. But with Q in town, Malindi looks set to welcome more international investments in the hospitality sector.