The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

If it
weren’t for the Italians, we’d probably be missing out on a lot of the nicer
things in life. Italians enlightened the world with delicious food, wonderful
coffee, gorgeous clothes and beautiful shoes. Whenever a new Italian restaurant
opens up in Cairo we get over-excited as we have yet to find the best pizza in
Cairo. Pizza Mia opened in Zamalek this weekend, promising to bring the
flavours and aromas from the charming streets of Italy to the ever-beating
heart of Cairo.

Pizza
Mia is located on the intersection of Ismail Mohamed Street and Taha Hussein
Street in Zamalek. Though it’s a small venue, the place is easy to spot.
Flowers hang lusciously around the window and the entrance. The inside is very
small and only has limited seating. Pizza Mia is not the place to go to if you
want an elaborate dinner, but it’s perfect for a quick lunch or takeaway. The
interior decor is a little bit on the tacky side but very cute nonetheless.

We
nestled in front of the window, which has a great view over the busy street.
For a starter, we ordered the Tuscan appetiser platter (32LE). This dish is a
combination of various starters and is very generous. We loved the garlic bread
and adored the mixed bruschette. We also loved the Fegatini (chicken liver pâté),
which was a bit sweet and topped with capers – the perfect balance in taste. We
loved the Caprese as well, which was presented in a cute little bread basket
and topped with delicious olive oil.

For our
main course, we sampled the pizza margherita (27LE) and the pasta all’amatriciana (28LE). The pizza was served with a pizza cutter that easily
slid through the pizza and took away the hassle of cutting the pizza with a
knife. The pizza was more of the American-style pan pizza with a thick yet
light base. It was topped with tomato, cheese and fresh basil. Though it wasn’t
the best pizza that this reviewer has ever had, it was one of the best tried in
Cairo.

We were more delirious about the pasta all’amatriciana. It was a bit
undercooked to our liking and was supposed to come with beef pancetta according
to the menu but we couldn’t exactly find that in the dish. However, the sauce
was delicious, fresh-tasting and a bit spicy, which made up for its
shortcomings.

We
couldn’t help but try their dessert as well and picked out the tiramisu (25LE)
and the apple strudel (9LE). We had high expectations of the tiramisu, which is
probably why we were left so disappointed. It was served very cold,
which made us initially assume it was tiramisu-flavoured ice cream. While
waiting for the tiramisu to reach room temperature, we dug into the tasty apple
strudel. The apple filling tasted very fresh, though the dough was a bit on the
dry side and could have used some sauce to make it juicier. When the tiramisu
was a bit warmer, we still weren’t exactly impressed. Although it was served in
a generous portion, the tiramisu tasted different to the flavours we’d
expected.

Despite
some minor shortcomings, we absolutely loved Pizza Mia and feel a new addiction
coming on with this restaurant. When in Zamalek and looking for tasty takeaway
Italian; then absolutely try Pizza Mia. The (Italian) staff is very friendly
and the whole place has a level of cosiness that was hard to find before.