Nifty Cafe & Wine Bar - Tigoni

February 7, 2024

Another day, another great gem discovered in Tigoni. Tunahama Tigoni ama? It seems to be the new Naivasha and I’m not mad at it😊 Heard about Nifty many months ago from my cousin and I always wanted to go but just never had the time until December of last year.

I finally made my way down there with a dear friend for one of our many food dates😋 The drive to Tigoni makes me very happy, I think being surrounded by fresh air and lush greenery is what we are severely lacking here in the city so this little escape is worth it every single time.

Nifty Cafe, like Como, is also a good 45 minutes out of the city, and it’s located where you’d least expect, at a petrol station stop. I really thought Google maps had misled us until I saw the sign for Nifty parking adjacent to the petrol station. On a first look you’d think it’s a nice little cafe at a petrol station but when you enter and venture to the patio section, you’ll see that you were gravely mistaken.

The cafe indoors isn’t super big but it’s spacious enough to fit a good amount of people. Decor is minimal and fits the natural surroundings around it. The outdoor section though… That’s where the magic is. They have a nice balcony area that’s not too vast, perfect for the amount of people who visit here on a regular basis. The views!! The views of the perfectly landscaped backyard and the backdrop of a wide forest with clear blue skies and the crisp chill air makes you feel like you’re in a cabin in the woods somewhere in Colorado😄 It’s giving very much Virgin River but in Limuru.

That ambience alone had me, I could sit there for hours working, chilling, vibing and the silence is very refreshing.

The menu is nicely packed with everything from breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks and snacks. We came here for brunch and I’d already heard good things about the coffee here so that’s what I went for immediately.

I had a latte (KSH260/) and a toasted crepe (KSH650/) while my friend had a cappuccino (KSH250/) and the breakfast bagel (KSH700/). They weren’t lying about that coffee - it was really good. I don’t know if they make their own or who sources it, but that’s some great coffee.

The toasted crepe has your choice of beef or ham, onions, mushrooms and cheese. Because I love a sweet & savoury combo, I asked for some strawberries and maple syrup on the side. I’m glad I did because the crepe, though tasty, was really lacking something… it felt quite dry. Luckily it was a sweet crepe, not a savoury one so that helped the taste profile a bit. I wish it had maybe like a sauce or some sort of spread inside before they toasted it, that would have brought it up a notch as a meal but still good regardless. Just not amazing.

For the breakfast bagel - it’s filled with an onion omelette, cheese and you can choose to either have bacon or sausage in it too. It comes with this tomato concasse sauce that’s really yum and actually what I wish could have been added to the crepe.

They said it’s meant to be a cheese & chive bagel… it was not. It barely even looked like an actual bagel, wasn’t as thick and just felt and tasted like a normal bun bread that happened to have the bagel hole in the middle. There were no chives nor cheese within that bread. I’ve had my fair share of bagels so I know a bagel when I taste one. If the cheese & chive bagel wasn’t actually that, I wonder how they do the cinnamon raisin bagel - does it have actual raisins and cinnamon? Can someone try it and tell me? Thanks in advance.

Bagel critique aside - that whole meal was much better than the crepe I had. It’s very filling, very tasty, it comes with a side salad making it a well balanced breakfast. Something I’d definitely recommend and would have again if I go back there for breakfast/brunch.

The service here was disappointing unfortunately. Aside from us (2 people) there was only one other customer in the restaurant and it felt like we had to keep asking for service, waiting for one thing or another took quite a while. Not sure why because the servers were present, they just weren’t bothered to come check outside if anyone needed anything.

It’s still a place I want to come back to though, I want to try their other meals maybe for lunch or dinner. They are very affordable - everything we had came to a total of about KSH2000/ which is something quite unheard of in most places in Nairobi. Tuhame Tigoni please, I’m ready to be surrounded by trees, fresh air and fresh AFFORDABLE food😄

Nifty Cafe also has a regular happy hour for those who live in the area, don’t think it’s as feasible for the city folk unless y’all are okay with driving through rush hour traffic to get here lol. They have events every week like karaoke and live music nights and they’ve really built quite a good community here.

It’s a perfect place for a date, great escape from the city for a lunch/dinner/drinks plan on the weekends and a perfect place to work from for us freelancers always on the lookout for a scenic cafe with great wifi👩🏾‍💻