Karveli

Karveli started in 2017 as a bakery and has grown into a full cafe and restaurant, with its main branch on Lumumba Avenue on the edge of the city centre. The name means loaf of bread in Greek, and bread is still at the heart of it. The business is Ugandan-owned, and its directors trained in bread, pastry and gelato making in Germany, France and Italy, which explains the European style of the counter.

The Lumumba Avenue branch is the flagship and the only one that offers the whole range: a bakery, gelato, coffee and cakes as well as a sit-down restaurant. In the morning, come for a butter croissant and coffee, or a tropical parfait if you want something lighter. Later in the day the menu moves to cooked dishes made from scratch, such as the Karveli Sunrise Salad, Tuscan chicken and Honolulu pork ribs. Italian gelato is the obvious finish, and the strawberry cake is one of the bakery's best-known cakes. Celebration cakes can be made to order.

The branch opens every day from 07:00 to 22:00, so it works for an early breakfast before sightseeing, a working lunch or a late coffee and dessert. It is a comfortable place for meetings, and takeaway is available if you want to pick up bread and pastries for later. Karveli also runs catering for events and corporate lunches and supplies bread wholesale to other businesses.

There are three other branches. Karveli Munyonyo, on the lake south of the city, is a full-service restaurant with views over Lake Victoria and opens daily from 07:30 to 21:30. Bukoto To Go and the Gaba Road branch in Nsambya, which opened in early 2026, are takeaway counters open Monday to Saturday from 07:00 to 20:00. For delivery orders the company runs a separate WhatsApp line.

Lumumba Avenue runs below Nakasero Hill, a short walk or ride from the central business district and the hotels of Nakasero. Karveli makes a good breakfast stop on the way to Old Kampala and the National Mosque, or a place to rest with a gelato after an afternoon in the city centre.