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

When it comes to fine-dining in Cairo, the capital’s hotels are largely a safe bet – none more so than Fairmont Heliopolis & Towers, which is home to a remarkable 17 restaurants, cafes and bars. There’s plenty of choice, but from the small courtyard pool, to the open oven with freshly baked bread, to the Islamic chandelier design, our visit to Lebanese restaurant, Al Dabké, was a delightful dining experience from start to finish.

Warmly welcomed by the cheerful and attentive staff, we were handed the menus and found a variety of mouth-watering choices that covered everything from from soups and mezzas,to  fattah, savoury pastries and grilled dishes. Eventually, we went for the Fattoush salad (50LE), Chicken Fattah (155LE) and Lebanese Kofta (170LE).

Drizzled with ground sumac, the Fattoush salad – also known as the Lebanese summer salad – was the perfect mix of sweet and sour. The pomegranate molasses skilfully mingled with the well-seasoned and spiced vegetables, leaving an overwhelmingly savoury and tingly aftertaste.

Sprinkled with pine nuts, the chicken fattah was comprised of large pieces of moist and tender to the taste poached shredded chicken smothered in a zesty chickpeas and yoghurt sauce. The only misstep to this big-portioned dish was the plain pita bread served instead of the roasted bread promised by the menu.

Served as four large pieces of lamb-minced meat with a side of Tahini dip, the Lebanese kofta was succulent, tender and delicious, with well-cooked minced meat rice and tasty grilled vegetables as side dishes.

Torn between some typical Lebanese delicacies for dessert, including traditional Lebanese pastry (55LE), Mastic ice cream (45LE), katayef keshta (45LE) and kunafa othmanlia (60LE), we ended our meal with the latter – a classic in the Lebanese kitchen.

Warm out of the oven and garnished with small pieces of chopped pistachio, the kunafa was sweet and gooey, enveloping a chewy and slightly salty akawwi cheese which was saturated with tasty and sweet honey syrup – as the shimmer alone was tempting enough.

No quintessential Oriental evening would be complete without shisha and we pushed own our delicious meal with a blueberry-flavoured and gum-flavoured shishas (45LE each) which were promptly tended to and marked a perfect ending to an experience we left with few qualms.

Despite being busy on at the time of our visit, Al Dabké hit all the right notes in bringing a high-end finish to Levantine cuisine and transpired to be more than befitting of the five-star billing of Fairmont Heliopolis.