Mode Café

January 26, 2024

This is one of my favourite places to go to for brunch! They went really simple on decor: minimalist, muted tones and an open plan space which makes it seem bigger than it is, there’s some outside seating but majority is indoors.

The menu is quite limited, which may concern some but for what they offer I think the menu fits. We had some coffees, the Chicken and Waffle (KSH1,200/), Shakshuka (KSH1,200/), Apple Crumble French toast (KSH1,100/) and Prawn tempura (KSH1300/).

The chicken & waffle comes with scrambled eggs on top, I don’t eat eggs so had that substituted with mushrooms. I enjoyed this a lot mostly because of the combination of flavours (sweet + savoury is always my jam), the fried chicken was delicious! That chicken combined with the waffle, sautéed mushrooms, some raspberry and blueberries, whatever berry sauce was on the plate, & maple syrup… yum!

My only critique is that waffle - I don’t know why people make waffles so thick in this Nairobi, haven’t found a place with fluffy waffles yet - is all that dough necessary surely?

I didn’t try the shakshuka - because I don’t eat eggs but my friend liked it, he did note that the eggs were over cooked and would have liked them a little runny. This dish comes with slices of buttered toast.The French Toast y’all…. I usually stay away from French toast because I hate that it tastes so much of egg but this one wasn’t bad at all - for those who love French toast, you’ll enjoy this dish.

The bread is thick and fluffy on the inside and soft to bite into, perfect crunch on top, I don’t know if they make that bread in-house but it was amazing. The apple crumble drizzled beside the toast was also super yum and a great compliment to the dish. I would have loved a lot more fresh berries though to balance out all the baked/fried items but pia hizo blueberries tatu zilikuwa tamu.

The Prawns tempura were okay, it’s quite basic tempura (I’m biased because Haru holds my fave tempura). The chef was nice enough to give us some little fruit bowls to start with, I think he saw our order and saw that we came with an agenda - to eat! Our waitress - Olivia was great, and took our feedback directly to the chef which I appreciate.

The place gets quite busy so if you’re a big group, I’d suggest making a reservation. During the week though it’s not as busy. Overall I enjoyed this brunch and would go back to try out their main meals for lunch or dinner.