Where to eat in Nairobi: 17 Shocking Places we Ate and What’s Actually Worth it

Let me just tell you now, Nairobi food will blow you away. I say this coming from someone who knows that we are spoilt for choice in South Africa, someone who visited Spain and found the food average if not disappointing. The food was so nice that we didn’t miss home food because we felt like we were eating it without the effort of cooking and cleaning up, and now every time I sit to write this, my mouth starts watering because I want that food again haha

Where to Eat in Nairobi

So here’s everything that we ate in Nairobi, so that you can enjoy it too. It’s in no particular ranked order, although we’ll rate all of them!

1. Mike Cafe – 10/10

You probably wouldn’t find this place if you weren’t told about it. It’s an unassuming cafe in Parklands, and this was where we had breakfast straight after the airport. We wanted an East African breakfast after the drab airplane food, and we couldn’t have picked a better place to go.

Originally from Mombasa, the owner shared how awesome Mombasa is and we were sad we couldn’t go! Here, we ate maru/nylon bhajia, which is basically thinly cut potatoes fried in a batter, dipped in this mouthwatering tomato chutney. We also had kebabs with coconut chutney, fresh juices, samosas, and mix! It’s hard to describe mix other than that it’s an amazing burst of flavours in a bowl, with every flavour and texture your mouth can taste.

BONUS: If you walk around the corner from Mike’s Cafe, you’ll find some street vendors selling fresh coconut water and cassava (muhogo) crisps, which are just DELICIOUS. Even though we were stuffed, we couldn’t resist.

2. Diamond Plaza

Since we had just eaten to our full at Mike’s Cafe, we didn’t go to Diamond Plaza to eat, but rather to reminisce. I remember the best nylon bhajia used to be sold here when I was a kid, and if you wanted Indian wear, you’d come here. We did some souvenir shopping here, and then wandered over to the restaurant stalls for some fresh sugarcane juice. Can’t recommend this enough! Be warned, though, as soon as you enter, waiters will swarm you with menus.

3. Golden Spoon Barbecue Restaurant

Golden Spoon is located in Lavington, near a mosque sports club, and we had our first barbecue dinner here. Gosh, we were starved, and Golden Spoon delivered 😭 I’m sure I’ll say this again, but Kenyan masala chips are unbeatable. They’re truly just the best, and when you taste them you’ll see. They’re saucy, warm, crispy, and soooo flavourful.

So we had that with chicken lollipop (one of my absolute favourite dishes and not enough places in CT do it right!) + sekela (braai), which came on a sizzler with veggies and was so yummy.

4. The River Cafe

We definitely didn’t expect this. What we wanted to visit was Karura Forest, and go for a waterfall hike. When planning, we ended up discovering the River Cafe, which is located inside Karura Forest, and is best known for it’s stunning location.

The whole cafe is essentially a wooden structure built inside the forest, with the river trickling by at the base. I felt so calm here, and you can even just pop in for a coffee and cake. If you choose to have a meal, their portions are quite big!

Just make sure you use the right gate, because the one that Google leads you to will require you to hike to the Cafe whereas the second entrance has direct access.

5. Pizza Corner

I couldn’t believe that this was still in existence and still so good, just btw. My parents recommended it for the pousin chicken (crispy fried chicken with a deliciously flavoured basting), and they haven’t eaten here in decades but guess what, it was still just as good! Of course, you can’t go to Pizza Corner and not get a pizza, so we tried that too. And masala chips, but did we even need to say that? The pizza was nice, homemade style, but I see why they’re known for their pousin chicken. They’re located in Regal Plaza and do have a nice sit down space as well.

6. Dhaba Sarit Centre

When travelling, you sometimes just need homey food, and that’s Indian food for us. Dhaba is located on the terrace of Sarit Centre, and we weren’t sure what to expect, because sometimes mall restaurants can be disappointing. But Dhaba didn’t!

Their decor is gorgeous, to begin with, and the outdoor seating is so pleasant. All their food is served in tawas and clay pots, so not only is the flavour even better, the presentation is top notch. We had Mutton hydrabadi biryani, masala gobi aloo, and roomali roti here with chai and we were happy babies hehe

7. Chopit

This is a pop up restaurant that’s actually run by one of my ex classmates, and they’ve now got a couple of branches across Nairobi and Mombasa. We went here for a quick lunch, and loved the grafitti and the way it’s built.

But of course, you go for the food and what chopit is best known for is their shakeshaki! Traditionally, you’ll eat mishkaki (skewered marinated bbqd meat) separately with chips and salad/coleslaw. Shakeshaki is an awesome innovation where everything goes in one bowl + the chutneys (chilli and tamarind) and you shake shake shake the bowl to mix it, then enjoy. And enjoy you will. The mixing brings out the best flavours in everything, and I’ve been craving another one since we left 😭 they’ve also got sundaes and other things on their menu, but if you can only try one thing, this is it.

8. Li’s Chinese Restaurant

Li’s is located on Limuru Road, and even though we went for dinner, there were soooo many cars on the street at that time haha. It’s at the top floor of the building, and has both indoor and outdoor seating. The night we went, weather was beautiful so we sat outside.

Here, we ordered our standard Chinese comfort meal – spring rolls and fried rice with sweet n sour chicken. We did the smart thing and only ordered one, because by now we had realised that portions were big and filling!

9. Mombasa Street Foodz

Aaahh another favourite. We went here for brunch and had maru/nylon bhajia, mandazis, masala muhogo, and mix. I’m someone who always tries new things on a menu, but when you find perfection, you stick with it haha. Oh, we also got fresh coconut water too! God. So good.

They’ve also got a bunch of things they sell inside the restaurant that are packed and you can take for yourself or family – we did that and were very happy haha

10. Hashmi BBQ

I think I lost count of how many people recommended Hashmis! And it did not disappoint. We went here with my parents family friends and kind of ordered an assortment of barbecue – sekela, seekh kebab, paneer tikka, all with masala chips. And chai of course. They were pretty busy, but service was good! As was the ambience, with fairy lights and lots of good warm lighting everywhere. This was when we once again noticed how alive Nairobi is at night. Love it.

11. INTI – A Nikkei Experience

I’ll be honest, you don’t go here for the food. You go for the view – it’s the tallest in Nairobi that you can access! The restaurant is shaped in a gorgeous round, so it’s quite an experience walking around. Each section has a different view. We didn’t go during a meal time, so we just shared freshly squeezed juice and some biting which was very average especially for the price haha. But the views were cool, and now we get to share our recommendations with you!

12. Love Birds Community Gift Shop

If you do book the same experience that we did for our national park safari + elephant sanctuary + giraffe centre, this is where you’ll probably go for lunch. There’s a lot of stunning artisan work that you can browse and buy here, paintings, clothing, woodwork. We ate zege/chips mayai (best way to describe it is literally and omelet with chips and coleslaw), masala chips, and ice cream 😁

13. Crazy Grill

Some days you’re just very hungry, and you decide to get food from two restaurants because you’re going to be leaving soon 😭 Crazy Grill was one of those days haha. We got barbecue (as the name recommends) for takeaway, although their sit down area looked quite nice too.

14. Nargis

This was our last stop before we flew out! We visited with a friend and his kids, so forgot to take pictures, but the food was niceee. BBQ is their specialty too, and somehow we weren’t even tired of it yet! This was another place multiple people recommended, and we saw why. Nice ambiance, delicious food, and great service.

15. Radisson Breakfast Buffet

For the conference, Aliasgher and I were at the Radisson Blu and got to enjoy their breakfast buffet. I love buffets and I love breakfasts, but I was genuinely impressed by this one because they actually had a ton of local Swahili cuisine in addition to the usual continental and other options. The outside seating was also quite pretty, so that was a plus!

16. Get on the go foods at a supermarket

If you’re on a budget or on the move, a lot of supermarkets have this section by the bakery where you can get packed home style meals. We saw some at Clean Shelf Supermarket things like roti rolls, and we also got a packed yoghurt with granola for the day we had the safari since we knew neither of us would be awake enough at 4am to make a full breakfast haha

17. Other recommendations that we didn’t get to try

These are recommendations we saw or were told by our friends and family, but didn’t get to try!

• Sandhya’s Kitchen  (next to Mombasa Street Foodz).
• Furasato
• Tokyo
• Shabz Barbecue
• Taste of China
• Open Hse Restaurant

And there you have it, everywhere we ate in Nairobi! Be honest, you’re hungry now, aren’t you? I am too haha. That’s just Nairobi food. So, so good.

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