Cafe Mebanas

This is one of those places I often pass on my way through Nakasero and have always wanted to check out, so finally late one night after a film at the Alliance Francais I managed to.

Found on Kafu road just before the Fairway hotel, Mebanas is a bit of a hidden gem in that it offers good coffee and food and a nice ambience as well as free Wifi (with a decent number of power sockets!). Apart from the regular customers from its adjoining tower, it’s relatively unknown to the hordes of Wifi junkies and coffee addicts, which makes it a nice quiet place to get some work done or just enjoy a good book. It is located on the first floor of the TWED Towers office block and as a result also offers a secure underground car park. The restaurant itself is decorated in dark wood and ironwork and has a main indoor covered section, as well as a small outdoor terrace for sunning yourself.

The food served is probably best described as ‘vaguely Mediterranean’ with dishes such as baba ghanoush and beef and houmous sandwiches served to the accompaniment of Spanish ballads and general easy listening acoustic stuff that creates a chilled and inoffensive ambience.

They offer main courses including chicken a la king (an old school canteen favourite!), fish catch of the day, thai green curry, and jerk chicken (prices between 22-24,000). Sandwiches here cost between 12,500 and 14,500 and there are a range of burgers including lamb, chicken and the somewhat intimidating ‘stallion’ beef burger (13-16,000 ugx). Or for the more health conscious they offer a range of salads including salad nicoise, pasta salad, houmous salad, and Caesar salad (12-14,000 UGX).

There is also a wide selection of hot and cold beverages to choose from. Coffees range between 4-6,000 UGX and there are accompanying sweets and pastries including muffins (3,000 UGX) and cakes such as carrot and black forest gateaux (3-5,500 UGX).

Staff are very friendly and helpful. They even stayed open late in the evening to serve us! I ordered a steak sandwich, which was very tasty, with good quality, perfectly cooked pieces of steak (although the ‘panini’ it arrived on was just toasted brown bread) along with their ‘Refreshener’ juice (apple, mint, and lemon – 8,000 UGX), which did indeed refresh(enate?) me.

They run a special ‘family’ deal on Sundays where if you buy 2 pizzas (usually 20-24,000 UGX) you get a 3rd free (they do, however, recommend ringing ahead to reserve) as well as special deals for office workers that get a free muffin with their coffee.

All in all, Cafe Mebanas is a good city centre lunch spot (especially for a quick working lunch), or alternatively a great place to while away the day working or reading.

Hours: Monday to Friday, 7:30am – 10:30pm, Saturday & Sunday, 9:30am – 10:30pm
Address: Plot 10, TWED Towers, Kafu Road, PO Box 1786
Phone: 0718 021 142
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CafeMebanas

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