“Best brunch in Nairobi” is the review on Trip Advisor that had me and a friend make a quick detour from J’s to Marula Mercantile. We were both undecided as to where to go for brunch, and settled on J’s, which is a great spot. But as soon as we saw how Marula Mercantile had been praised on that review, we both knew what had to be done. 

Marula Mercantile is tucked away in Karen, in an enclave known as Marula Studios. Marula Mercantile is a restaurant and mercantile, as its name declares. Apart from food, one can purchase pastries, jams and pickled vegetables, honey and nut butters.

I loved Marula Mercantile so much, that I convinced my dad that we had to have dinner there that very day. We did, and I’ll be blogging about that on Thursday, so do check in then. I’ll also be talking about how we saved KES 1500 on our bill! But for now, let’s talk about Marula Mercantile by day.

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AMBIENCE

All the seating is outdoors, with 2 options: open air on a wooden floor, or canopied on a  mazeras-mosaic floor.  Warmers are available for chilly days.

Their tables and chairs are a mix of wood and steel; the steel giving an industrial feel, while the wood adds some warmth. The tables are all set with burnt-orange earthenware. Beautiful.

 

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FOOD AND DRINKS

Their food is delectable. I had French toast while my friend had pork sausages. My take on both dishes below..

French toast: The bread was lightly sweetened by the dusted sugar, and warmly flavoured with orange cardamom butter. The generous coating of egg was perfectly toasted without drying it out. Beautiful slices of fresh papaya and strawberry and a side-serving of bourbon jaggery syrup packed a sweet punch that balanced out the savoury egg.

Pork sausages: Thick well stuffed home-made sausages without all the gunk that processed store-bought sausages come with. It was served with 2 slices of grilled fresh-baked bread, with a serving of  a delicious yellow and red pepper relish and mustard.

Edit: the last time I ordered the sausages, they were terrible. I guess it’s hit or miss.

For drinks, I had a single cappuccino and my friend had a virgin dawa.

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MENU

The elegant continental menu is taken well by many palates, and makes the selection process easy. The breakfast menu is vegetarian-friendly.

There is a pastry display with cakes, cookies and other pastries for sale. I can comfortably say that they have some of the best cookies in town, and for only KES 50 each. I bought a few to-go.

They have several fresh juices, wines, coffees and tea. They also have a fully-stocked bar.

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SERVICE

Service was alright. Nothing to write home about.

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PRICING AND VALUE FOR MONEY

Great value for money! Breakfast or brunch main meals shouldn’t cost you more than KES 1000 per person. For brunch, my meal cost KES 750 and my friend’s meal cost KES 650. Their coffee goes for KES 210 on average; that should say something.

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Check out the vlog below, which is actually from the same day we went ice skating. Catch you on Thursday when I’ll be talking about Marula Mercantile by night and how I saved KES 1500 on dinner!

Get your DisCoucher book for half price here.

Lots of love.