Kuvuka

Kuvuka is a café that I certainly couldn’t miss. Painted in minty green, and seeing people leisurely eat their lunches through the windows made it appealing enough for me to try it out. When walking in, you get the sense of very home made, healthy foods and the menu confirms that. They have an assortment of jacket potatoes, paninis, salads and soups. The best I’ve had here was a wild mushroom soup and it came with a really nice piece of bread. It was a delight to finish.
This is the kind of café that you can buy your lunch and sit in, read a magazine or slowly work out your plans for the day. Real easy going, friendly staff and food to fill the spot.

Kuvuka is a great place to hang out. It was the first café on Stokes Croft that offered the kind of comfort and relaxed atmosphere that has become prevalent in this area. This garners my utmost respect. To have the foresight to open a bistro style coffee lounge that promotes public speaking, poetry and art, directly opposite a bunch of derelict buildings and only a few doors up from a couple of ‘men only’ massage parlours, took some courage.
Kuvuka offers a very pleasant experience, great homemade sandwiches and other great snacks, but if you scratch the surface a little more you will realise that there’s a whole lot more to the place than meets the eye. Ten percent of the profits go to a Ugandan charity called Suubi Trust. The parents of the guy that set up Kuvuka live out in Uganda, and I believe are actively involved in the work of Suubi Trust also. There’s more to the Kuvuka story, but i won’t ruin it by revealing it all here… it’s so much better if you pay them a visit yourself!

Kuvuku is a quirky little café located just by Turbo Island on Stokes Croft, and it’s in a good location if you’re doing a walk into the city centre as you can stop by to grab a coffee and a light bite if you fancy a quick break.
I actually really like this café, but I don’t go here too often as parking is a bit of a hassle — you have to be lucky to get a space around the area, I guess because it’s so close to the centre. The place is fairly sizeable for a coffee shop, and there’s a good amount of seating which is always a good thing, especially if you’re stopping for a break. The interior is pretty quirky and cool, and at the same time is fairly basic, but it works well and creates a relaxing and chilled out atmosphere with a few things hanging on the walls to keep your interest.
Onto the food… prices are fairly standard for a café, you can expect to pay between £3 and £5 for most of their lunches which include things like paninis, baguettes, sandwiches etc. If you are on a budget however check out what they’re doing for their homemade soup of the day, because they only charge just over £2.50, and you get a good chunk of bread with it too! In my experience the food is really good and tasty, just what you need for a light lunch to fill the gap. As for their coffee, it is also pretty good and I can’t complain.
Another point to make is that Kuvuku offers a catering service of platters and all sorts of tasty foods, so if you’re having a party or a do then it might be worth popping by to see what they can offer you as I’m sure they’ll be very reasonably priced and the staff are lovely! I am a fan of this café and would recommend it to anyone, so if you haven’t already then give it a go and see what you think!

Faintly African inspired (the name is a giveaway), Kuvuka is one of the more pleasant spots on Stokes Croft to stop for a break. Well, it certainly surpasses Licken Chicken anyway.
The windows let in a lot of light, giving the café an easy-​going, airy feel. There are some great leather sofas which are perfect for whiling away an afternoon on. Local artworks are often showcased on the walls and available for purchase. Check out the blog and the owners are clearly involved in a lot of African development initiatives, which might be worth asking about if you’re interested.
The food is good although nothing remarkable. There’s a pretty tasty selection of cakes and, this being Stokes Croft, everything is reasonably priced, although I have to admit to having one of the worst iced coffees I have ever had (it was warm!) within Kuvuka’s four walls.
The opening hours are daytime only, however in the evenings I’ve walked past Kuvuka illuminated with fairy lights. I’m not sure what goes on (according to the website they hire out the venue) but it invariably looks inviting indeed.
Not a bad spot, but alas, not really that great either.

Kuvuka is a quaint, vibrant and comfortable coffee shop along Stokes Croft/​Cheltenham Road. Kuvuka offers an African themed setting as you enter for a tea, coffee or a quick bite to eat. The quality of the interior design is astounding and a real treat for the imagination.
Kuvuka itself is inexpensive, and so you would not pay anything more than if you were to drink in a mainstream coffee chain. This means Kuvuka is a perfect place for students, artists or anyone eating and drinking out on a budget.
Although there is not a great deal of selection of food, the light and airy surroundings provide a perfectly comfortable environment to soak up the African-​themed café’s charisma and charm. Seating is plentiful, and so Kuvuka is definitely a coffee shop that must be visited, if not for the coffee, then for the unique themes from Africa.

A curious name for a fairly standard café, Kuvuka means «to cross», symbolising a bridge between the UK and Africa, which Kuvuka is inspired by.
The café is a good size, boosting more seating than some of the other local cafes in the area but the for me the atmosphere doesn’t pop in the same way. Kuvuka is bright and airy, with free Wi-​Fi and normally at least three different varieties of flapjack, which are all scrumptious, but sometimes the staff seem a little vacant.
I walk past Kuvuka most days, often popping in for a drink or a snack, and on many occasions the staff have seemed more interested in talking to one another than their customers, or smoking right in front of the entrance, which I think is a bit unprofessional.
The Fairtrade hot drinks and reasonably priced food are the main reasons I use Kuvuka and the sofas and variety of newspapers and magazines on offer are great but I think this café doesn’t quite reach its potential.

Kuvuka couldn’t look more inviting from the outside and within it is just as welcoming and cosy. The owners must be very pleased as when they opened three years ago, they wanted to create an environment and ethos that represented what the African continent has to offer, while «facilitating lasting friendships», and «inspiring its patrons with a sense of both local and global social responsibility». I think it achieves just that. There is a big emphasis on buying Fair Trade here but it is also the kind of place you want to share with friends and that you treat almost like a second living room. The food and coffee is incredibly well priced with a North African flavour– great salads and mezzes as well as classic paninis and baguettes.
The café is also a real social hub, with ethically sourced craft fairs, music nights and various events to raise money for the Ugandan Suubi Trust, which provides medical care in Uganda.

Kuvuka is a wonderful coffee shop mid way on Cheltenham Road. I admit I had walked past this coffee shop many times without even a second glance. It wasn’t until I was taking pictures for Unilocal a few months back and I actually thought my fingers were going to freeze that I popped in to warm up!
Inside you really feel like you’ve stepped into Africa (which is a very good thing on a snowy Bristol morning). The attention to detail is really good, and I like the big sofas near the window which you can get a good couple of friends together and set the world straight. There is also free WIFI which is handy.
The best thing is that it’s pretty much exactly half way between town and my house which makes a perfect pit-​stop for me on the walk home!

This is another one of the lovely little cafés in Stokes Croft. Their motto is «…to provide a great place for coffee, friendship and justice.» They do a good range of fair-​trade coffees and tea, all of which are very reasonably priced — only £1.50 for an Americano. Baguettes, paninis, salads and delicious cakes are all available on the food side of things, with a baguette costing £2.60. They have free WIFI as well, so if you want to just go and browse the internet for an hour or so with a warm cup of something by your side, then this place is highly recommended. The décor inside has an African influence and Kuvuka also supports the Suubi Trust, which is raising money for cancer treatments in Uganda. Relaxing, ethical, with great coffee — looks like they’ve lived up to their motto.

Café Kuvuka is a wonderful little café in the heart of Stokes Croft, and has just celebrated its 3^rd birthday. It has really friendly staff and comfortable sofas and chairs. It has great, reasonably priced fairtrade coffee (£1.70 for a cappuccino beats Starbucks in price and taste!) and a good selection of teas. I highly recommend the London Fog (Earl Grey and Vanilla). It has a good range of breakfast bagels, paninis, baguettes, sandwiches, salads and cakes. It has great music played at a nice ambient volume. It has newspapers and free WiFi.
Café Kuvuka has strong ethical principles, and here are some of the things I’ve learnt from it’s website. Kuvuka means ‘to cross’ and its vision is to provide a bridge between the UK and African culture. It does this with its décor, its welcoming attitude, and its connection to a medical charity (Suubi Trust) that provides aid in Uganda. You can even buy handmade African wooden bowls and spoons in the café. It says on its website, ‘Kuvuka is about relationships; its about enjoying the company of friends’.
All in all, this place does what every café should in my opinion — allow you to relax in whatever way you’d like away from the stresses and strains of modern life.

The café should have to either clearly advertise their evangelical connections outside, or confine religious meetings to their private room downstairs; we found it pretty damn funny when a god-​squad group earnestly started praying about their non-​Christian enemies and shouting Amen in earshot of the other customers and staff who they seemed to know.
On their website it says the café is supported by a group of evangelical local churches guess it’s a kind of church annex?

Nice place good staff and the best sandwiches in that part of Bristol. My favourite brasserie for short lunch brake. I recommend: BLT sandwich or sandwich with mozzarella and sun-​dried tomatoes (roasted). Just take a place and read National Geographic :) Coffe is essential to do this.

Kuvuka is a very friendly place in the heart of a very unfriendly part of town. All their coffee is fair trade, the tables and chairs are nice, and the atmosphere is very relaxed.
Should you feel the need to carry a laptop around Stoke’s Croft, free Wi-​fi is available all the time, and the staff are very nice.
They will probably comfort you if your laptop gets stolen on the way in.