Nook Cafe

Chill and cozy place for a catch-up or even working.

Fast wifi, good place to get some work done. Friendly staff. Have returned a few times.

Off main streets so what, good coffee, breakfast, wifi and very nice staff. Good value

Quiet environment for laptop working.

When we’re on extended trips we generally stay in budget accommodations that are good for sleeping but not always good for doing our digital work. So we always seek out local spots with good wifi so we can catch up on work in a fresh, comfortable environment. So good coffee/tea, and as a bonus good food, at a reasonable price (aka: table and wifi rental fee 😉) is a must.

While in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo Nook Cafe ticked all the boxes.

In a city with not-so-great data coverage - at least with our Malaysian HotLink packages - the consistently strong wifi at Nook was a godsend. It’s also a comfortable space with good AC (not too cold) and friendly, attentive staff. And they are super chill about letting folks hang out with their laptops and work. A note about this: please be courteous about this. Buy food and drink, and if the place gets super busy and you’ve been there a while, be a good human and give up your table to others.

As for their coffee, it’s a more “western” style cafe serving things like latte, Americanos, and espresso, and at a slightly higher price than the local coffee shops. But the coffee is delicious, and the “higher” price is relative given the overall affordability of Malaysia.

And their food is outstanding. We had a bagel with duck breast that was off-the-charts delicious, a luscious grilled cheese on sourdough served with a side of tomato soup (just like grilled cheese was meant to be served), and a killer Rojak Buah served with prawn crackers. The most we spent at a sitting was RM 55 (CDN $16.65), and that was for two outstanding Dirty Chai Teas and the aforementioned grilled cheese sandwich and Rojak Buah salad. That’s a pretty damn good deal for a filling lunch and a couple of hours of reliable wifi in a comfy, chill space.

*Bonus points: Nook is steps away from a clean, modern laundromat so you can catch up on laundry while you chill with delicious drinks and good food.

Interior was beautiful, you can do anything in here, studying, working, talking, filming and whatever. Some YouTubers was filming themselves on the outside, balcony.
Drinks and bakery things were great to eat.
Lot of staffs here.

Good coffee and service. wifi works well and plenty of tables to sit. There are also some outlets if you need. I highly recommend the grilled cheese with tomato soup, it was SO tasty. Music was a tad loud, but other than that no complaints. Would definitely go back.

And just a note, outdoor section was closed when I went, just in case you wanted to sit outside, it's not available at the moment.

Very hard to find parking. The staff very nice & friendly, they allow me to turn on my laptop while having breakfast but my hotspot signal very poor, I didn’t use their wifi. I had ordered hot cappuccino & Chicken and Egg Sandwich (big portion for me😜), so the total cost is RM32.55 including the 5% service charge. Then, I take away hot chocolate RM12. They charge RM1 for take away packaging.

Cute and cozy cafe with good wifi and great service. The sourdough bread is delicious and you can buy entire loaf for 25RM. Surprisingly my wife and I were not the biggest fans of all the food we ordered. The crispy chicken sandwich on focaccia bread was lacking in flavor but the chicken was tender at least. The dirty chai latte was mostly milk, felt like there should have been more chai flavor to it. The mocha was just okay. However the cinnamon churros with caramel sauce were delicious.

Nice environment with wifi and electric socket. Like that they use rottan chairs. Lavender lemomade was not bad and the color was great. It wont be too sour. Maybe just dont really like that it closes early as 6pm or 6.30pm

This is a great place that I have been visiting while in and out of Kota Kinabalu on holiday. The coffee is strong and delicious, and everything I tried from the menu has been awesome too. I strongly recommend the granola and fruit bowl. Everything is good value.
The vibe is quite trendy with a lot of young and beautiful people coming through. The wifi is strong so it is a great place to plug in, enjoy the music and get some work of study done.

The cappuccino is superb, high quality coffee with just the right texture. The ambience and wifi is good too, however the food (I had the chicken and egg mayo sourdough sandwich - underwhelming) and the toilet hygiene could be improved. I would return for the coffee!

Delicious breakfast, very nice people running it, great wifi and a wonderful vibe! Would also recommend for anyone vegan as there were a few food options and oat milk!

Nice quiet place located in kk town! Good for meetings, working, or just talking! :)

Staffs are friendly as well! 👍

Coffee not bad, service is good and friendly .
Price raisonnable . Of course free wifi lol

Great Yuri Matcha, friendly staff.....
Came here to do paperwork, hence the availability table with plug for laptop is a plus

Went here for a quick lunch. Had the creamy pasta with mushroom, crispy chicken burger and they also have a menu rahmah (rm5) and all of them are great and delicious! Cozy environment, you can have it indoor or outdoor. Friendly staff, clean toilet, free wifi. Overall satisfied and would recommend to others 👍

Service: 10/10
Sourdough bread: 9.5/10
Food in general: 5/10
Ambience: 7/10

Food is just average, quite overhyped. We had the steak sandwich & crispy chicken burger. But the bread is good. Service is great, everyone’s polite, friendly & helpful with cute aesthetics. Has wifi too.

Lovely and quiet cafe to chill and work. Has wifi and power sockets. Coffee quality is great. Service is very sweet.

Had a great cappuccino. While the spaghetti and chicken were bland and tasteless. Did not even finish the food. But one thing disgusted me is that the staff/waiter had LONG nails. And they were not wearing hats (nvm this) the long nails is surely against the public health or food handling regulations yeah? Might report this to the authorities. You are handling food! And yet you can't even follow the guidelines? Dirty and disgusting. When i say LONG, i mean LONG AND DIRTY. Just bcs you are working in a hipster cafe does not mean you can serve food to people with your long dirty nails.

Real food!
Prepared, NOT just heated up from the food service truck.
More than just a coffee shop, full menu.
Sandwiches, breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner options. (Not a huge menu, but varying enough to keep it interesting.
Beef stew was very satisfying.
3rd time here in 1 week.
Good wifi.

The food there is quite good as the ambient. They also have an external area in the back. The prices are higher than other places but it's reasonable for the quality of food you get. Also has good internet with few power plugs to work with laptop.

Nice ambience for a cup of coffee with free wifi for remote working. Food is average.

Good wifi and nice atmosphere. Outside and inside seating. High quality food and drinks. Prices ranging 15-25 rm for breakfast and another 8-15 rm for drinks.

Very nice coffee in cozy place. Had very nice blanch as well. Would be happy to come back with my laptop to work since they had plenty of power outlets.

Very nice place! I recommend the Smothie bowl. Coffee was also good. wifi is great!

Great atmosphere with friendly staff. I was able to work here on my laptop for several hours - thank you!

Fantastic cafe, beautiful decor, great coffee and delicious waffles. There’s plenty of seating and free wifi.

My friend and I went to the Nook Cafe for breakfast and loved it. The coffee was good, the setting was great and the food was good too although my friend did initially get the wrong order.

It’s a nice place to sit and work too with free wifi.

I recommend visiting for breakfast for sure!

This cafe has a good reputation on various blogs. The staff were polite. I ordered a Long Black, but the taste was just okay.

They have Wi-Fi and power outlets, but there aren't many. (Only about two in the whole store?) Most seats don't have power outlets, so it might not be suitable for people who want to work for long periods.

Also, for some reason, the Wi-Fi connected to my smartphone but not to my PC. The Wi-Fi name ended with (2.4Ghz), so maybe it's related to the frequency band?

Furthermore, unusually for KK, there was toilet paper in the restroom.

The carrot cake was delicious, but the Earl Grey chocolate was rather ordinary and didn't really taste like Earl Grey. Overall, the environment was comfortable and had Wi-Fi, making it a great spot for afternoon tea.