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

Having been used as a shooting location in TV series, I Want a Man, one would expect high-end Italian restaurant, Gabriel, to be something special. However, after a visit to its second branch on Heliopolis’ El Nozha Street, we’re not so sure.

With a spacious outdoor area comprised of colourful classical upholstered chairs and sofas (which are the exact replica of the aesthetic of Oriental restaurant, Waraa Enab, which is located inside of Gabriel’s Mohandiseen branch) and a two storey indoor area with the exact same black and gold themed décor of the first branch, Gabriel El Nozha certainly catches the eye.

Gabriel’s menu boasts a varied selection of dishes covering soups, pasta, steak, pizza and sandwiches. Skipping the starters, we decided to go straight for the mains, opting for Riagtoni Shrimp pasta (57.90LE) and Grilled chicken with curry sauce (69.90LE) served with two sides of our choosing from sautéed vegetables, fries, pasta or rice.

Twenty minutes after placing the order, our mains arrived hot out of the oven. Smothered in a smooth and silky curry sauce with a spot-on consistency, the chicken dish was comprised of three medium-sized pieces of tender to the touch and well-seasoned grilled chicken breasts. The only mishap to the toothsome dish was the two sides of undercooked sautéed vegetables and white rice.

Stuffed with plenty of seasoned shrimps and crispy fried calamari rings, the Rigatoni shrimp pasta was cooked al dente and covered with rich in flavour tomato cream sauce with a hint of garlic, basil and parmesan cheese that perfectly complemented the taste.

Craving something sweet after our dinner, we were disappointed that the only available dessert at the time of our visit was the chocolate brownie, which took one of the staff members over ten minutes to check its availability.

Already turned off by it being the only available option, the brownie cake came cold with a bland taste and no chocolate sauce. The only perk of this overall tasteless dish was the big scoop of vanilla ice cream topping the cake, which also wasn’t covered with any sauce.

We washed down the average meal with mango-kiwi flavoured shisha (40LE), the flavours of which perfectly mingled together; however, the ‘shisha guy’ didn’t tend to it promptly which almost burned the tobacco and lead to a loss in flavours after a short period of time.

We expected a lot more from Gabriel than what we found and, even though some items were well-executed, the mishaps we encountered during our visit overrode the positives.