Coffee & Bagels

Taking a small break from the big restaurants today to talk about this small but cool cafe in the middle of Kilimani. Right off Lenana Road, coffee and bagels has a nice big sign so you can’t miss it and is in the same compound as possibly the busiest car wash in the area (that place is never empty!)

When they first opened years ago, I was hesitant that they’d actually have good bagels and I was right… at the time. Since then, I think they’ve figured out how to make good bagels so this 2nd visit wasn’t disappointing.

I hear the owner built the whole place himself not brick by brick but wood by wood and sells coffee that he grows from his farm in Meru. I stan a person with a dream who then makes their dream come true. It’s such a cosy cafe but also gives off a very mature look and feel with all its wood decor. There’s pops of colour here and there with the baby blue chairs and the very red telephone box outside which gives the toned down look a bit of pzazz. The chairs are comfy, especially the arm chairs on the inside, there’s a rocking chair too for those who like to disappear into a good book with their coffee.

The menu is as simple as the name - just coffee and bagels here. But it’s not just any ordinary coffee- it’s specialised coffee☕️ You can choose from the lush rich French press brew to the crystal clear Chemex brew, complex V60 brews or a number of cold brews… for coffee lovers like me, this is a fantastic place to get coffee. It may take a little more time than your typical coffee shop but it’s worth the wait.

The bagel options are also in plenty and you can choose what type of bagel you’d like. What I found odd was the charge for the spreads, for example if you choose to have peanut butter on your bagel, it’s KSH100 for the peanut butter or KSH200 for the cream cheese spread etc… Why not just add the cost to the actual bagel?

That aside - this was our order: iced hazelnut latte (KSH500), steak bagel burger on plain bagel (KSH800) and the bacon, egg & cheese bagel on sesame seed bagel (minus the egg - KSH700). So usually a latte is a latte you know, but this particular hazelnut iced latte was a very superior latte🤩 It was so good!

I went with the water dripped cold brew version and had a taste before adding the flavoured syrup… that’s some of the best coffee I’ve had in a minute! I love the ice coffee cubes they add to the drink - giving it more of a kick than you’d get with a normal iced latte, perfect for the sunny afternoon out I was having that day😊 They really do need to get coasters though because they fill the mugs to the brim and it tends to spill when you stir in the syrup and the ice cubes.

I love that they also offer actual lactose free milk, not just almond milk or soy… not everyone wants to have almond or soy and I need other coffee shops to get it together and do the same because lactose free milk is even cheaper so why not offer it as an option?? Please and thanks.

The steak bagel burger my friend had was quite a big portion and very filling. The meat was soft, flavourful but quite salty. The coffee really helped balance that out. The bacon and cheese bagel with the chive cream cheese spread was absolutely perfect. Reminded me of a classic BEC (bacon egg & cheese) bagel from a simple bagel shop down the street in New York - yes I’m very much a bagel snob, I must admit🙈 So the fact that this bagel impressed me, tells me they know what they’re doing. The first time I tried a bagel here I didn’t like it, the bread was too thick and too hard, I never went back after that first visit. A month ago I had to take a meeting here and decided to give them another try esp since the coffee was still so good and this time, the bagel was definitely much better.

Service was okay, I don’t know how many people are usually on hand as staff but that day it was just the one waitress handling every customer and I think that may have been too much for her. They need maybe 2-3 people at most.

The cafe has both an indoor and outdoor seating section. You can come get your car washed (if you have a lot of time as the queue at the car wash is quite long) and grab a coffee and a bagel as you wait. It looks like a great place to work from (strong wifi!) and has the exact coffee shop ambience us freelancers crave from time to time. Also a great place for meetings, catch ups or a nice low pressure first date.

I probably need to give places I’ve written off second chances because clearly they may surprise me like this one did.

Ratings

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Service: ⭐️⭐️
Ambience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• nairobieats
• Coffee Shop Kenya
• Coffee Shop In Nairobi
• Coffee And Bagels
• Bagels In Nairobi
• Coffee Date Nairobi
• Nairobi Cafes
• Restaurants In Nairobi
• Nairobi Restaurants
• Restaurant Review
• Coffee Lover
• Coffee Love
• Coffee Enthusiast
• Cold Brew Nairobi