Lounge culture is fast picking up in Kigali, and it’s all about plush sofa-style seating, premium drinks and venues.

Unlike conventional night clubs whose major focus is entertainment by way of music, the lounges focus mainly on providing a cool space where business people can come and have a drink or to simply relax and unwind after a long day. 

A week ago, the Century Park complex in Nyarutarama became the latest establishment to walk down this road, with the opening of the Chillax Lounge. Century Park boasts a Chinese Restaurant, as well high end accommodation that comes by way of villas and apartments, while a boutique hotel is also coming up soon. 

Regulars to the place can recall the vast glass walled open space on the first floor of the building with its plush sofas but no activity. Guests to the restaurant loved to roam about this space, mainly to take in the beautiful views around the Nyarutarama golf course that this vantage point used to offer. 

Others simply came here to look at artistic impressions of the ambitious expansion projects that are coming up on the sprawling facility. This artistic impressions are still there, and walking past them one is immediately ushered into the main service area of the lounge. 

The sitting options are divided almost equally between indoor and outdoor, by the balcony. 

An aura of space and opulence immediately engulfs you as you settle into the lounge’s comfy white sofas. The atmosphere here is much more quiet than that at the Chinese restaurant downstairs, and something about it immediately points to relaxation. 

The main bar boasts a wide selection of premium drinks and fancy contemporary and classic cocktails, and a separate corner specifically dedicated to wines, stashed neatly away in refrigerator racks, and adjacent to it, a coffee section with an in-house barrister at hand. 

A week ago, the Chillax Lounge was officially unveiled to a select invites-only crowd. Management decided to keep it a low-key affair, perhaps owing to the kind of people that graced the occasion – CEOs of blue chip companies, businessmen, VIPs, ambassadors and hospitality industry top guns. Together, they formed a crowd of about 300, and management decided to go out of its way to spoil them with a sustained onslaught of Champagne, which seemed to be the order of the day. 

The drinks and bites were on the house, designed to introduce guests to some of the premium selections on offer. 

Ronald Bala, the manager later took me into a private room adjacent to the main service counter, that is being developed as a signature whisky lounge. 

Still a work in progress, the room is stashed high with imported whiskies and other premium drinks, electronic appliances and crockery. 

"People always associate whisky with class, hence the name. It will have a wide selection of whiskies on offer, and a cigar selection for the connoisseurs,” Bala revealed.”

Tony Remedios entertained guests at the launch, and it was a pleasure to bump into him again on Friday night when we visited. 

Bala later revealed they plan to introduce more theme nights soon, starting with a Jazz night. 

He seemed rather confident about the lounge’s prospects: "We feel the market is ready. Kigali is fast developing, and people have been looking for such premium venues to relax.”

Basically it was a launch for the lounge and the bigger Century Park project as it is. 

Guests were shown around the 16 plush villas coming up, a slew of serviced apartments, and a 50-bed boutique hotel still under construction. The site will also host the Kigali Sheraton Hotel. 

The current structure that houses the lounge and restaurant downstairs will act as a club house once the entire project is complete. 

"When the project is completed, people from the villas and apartments will come here to relax. But it will still remain open to everyone,” Bala further revealed.