Rocks & Roses

This place has closed.

For a Brit abroad this is probably the closest thing you get to a little piece of home. This tiny tea room/luncheon spot is tucked away next to the Surgery clinic and, without any signs or much promotional stuff, its actually pretty hard to find unless you happened to stumble across it after your monthly check-up.

Everything about this place is quintessentially British tearoom circa 1980, which makes it all the more charming. It consists of mainly outdoor seating under umbrellas with some comfy floral print sofas and ironwork tables.

The menu is pretty basic and kept small but has a number of different combinations of open top sandwiches including such fillings as ham, cheese, salami, chicken mayonnaise and tilapia mayonnaise, which range from 12,500 UGX – 14,500. If you do go for a sandwich you are offered a range of different breads including baguette and brown bread ,seeing as this place is basically also a bakery they’re usually all fresh out of the oven. The best thing about the sandwiches though? The homemade chutney that accompanies them!

They also have a daily specials board with different quiches including cheese and broccoli and bacon and broccoli (usually around the 20-21,000 mark) as well as hot soups of the day including such hearty classics as carrot and coriander and leek and potato. These specials are usually the best bet as they really are consistently tasty. The soups especially are full of creamy goodness!

And if you’re coming from the Emerald Isle – probably the best item on the menu is the freshly baked soda bread and baked goods. The owner is herself northern Irish so her soda bread (called wheaten farl in the northern Irish fashion) is bang on the money and if you order in advance you can even buy a whole loaf to take away with you. Dessert delicacies worth trying include the bizarrely named ‘hedgehogs’ which are a chocolately squares (4,000 UGX) and the carrot cake (7,000 UGX).

This is also one of the few places in Kampala that serves afternoon tea for 10,000UGX which includes tea/coffee, scones, butter jam and cream. Tea on its own here is 5-6,000 UGX and coffees are around 6,000 UGX for cappuccinos and lattes.

A great place to while away the time waiting for a medical checkup / haircut at swizz cuts or just to grab some lunch during the week. Be warned, however, opening hours for this place aren’t the most sociable as its only open on week days and shuts at 5 pm. Also – service here is pretty slow so its not the place to go if you’ve got somewhere to be straight after.

Hours: 9:30am – 5pm, Monday to Friday
Phone: 0752 445 257

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