Amani Ya Juu Cafe
This cozy outdoor restaurant set in the heart of Riverside is a place I’ve been meaning to visit for years!! Literal years and I finally got to go this year and was very excited about it Amani ya juu is actually the name of the gift shop in the same compound and Amani Garden cafe is the cafe’s actual name. But most people know it as Amani ya juu meaning peace from above.
It’s a very serene space, set up in a lush garden right by the busy Riverside junction and yet once you’re in there you can’t hear the busy traffic outside at all. Truly peaceful as the name suggests. I came here for brunch with my fellow brunch lover friend. The menu is quite vast with plenty of options for breakfast, lunch/early dinner (they close at 6:30pm).
Unfortunately, even with a wide menu… they were really missing quite a number of items particularly on the breakfast section which is what we came to have. They had no pancakes. They had no bagels. They had no English cream scones. At the very least they at least had coffee.
Anyway, because we could not have the breakfast we came for - we settled for lunch. Started with some salads because Amani is well known for their bomb salads. We got the Serengeti salad (half - KSH800) and the Amboseli halloumi & mango salad (KSH1400). We also had the Cajun chicken burger (KSH1200) and fish tacos (KSH1100)
Their salad reputation clearly precedes them because those salads were amazing! The portions were such a good healthy size and I love that you can choose to either have a full salad at full price or half a salad at KSH800 which is still quite sizeable portion.
The serengeti salad was divine! Mixed greens mixed in with honey-roasted macadamia nuts, chopped apples and feta cheese + a poppy seed dressing that’s so good I need them to bottle it and sell it asaptually. I love nuts in any salad and I love feta in anything so this was already gonna be a winner in my books. The Amboseli salad was also really good particularly because of the mango and halloumi addition + honey-mustard dressing, I love a sweet & savoury combo!
The mains were quite a disappointment after such great salads. The burger my friend had was meh… Quite bland and those fries were whiter than the UN goodness. The fish tacos… were just sad Once again, why we insist on using chapos instead of tortilla wraps as taco shells will always be a wonder for me… the 3 pieces of fish looked so dull, and why was everything separated? I have to build my own taco? Recession indicator.
Suffice it to say… we were not impressed at all by anything other than the great salads and the ambience. If they had any breakfast items maybe I’d be saying otherwise but now we’ll never know lol…
It’s a great place for breakfast or lunch (if you’re having salads lol) can’t say much about the mains, maybe their other options are better? Sijui but I would not recommend anything other than the salads off this menu. They don’t open on Sundays and they close by 6pm daily. Use that information wisely.
Ratings
Food: ⭐️⭐️.5
Service: ⭐️️⭐️⭐️
Ambience: ⭐⭐️⭐️⭐️