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

With only five days left in Ramadan and all the family and friends gatherings behind you. Yu’d be forgiven for just not having the energy to cook your own fetar anymore. But if you’re looking for an easy, family-style fetar, Napa Grill’s open buffet is great choice.

The Fairmont Nile City restaurant is beautifully decorated with traditional Ramadan kheyamaya fabric hung from ceiling and the walls, but it keeps the whole thing simple and elegant ambiance.

As soon as we stepped inside the restaurant we found a chef serving lamb and rice, as well as a salad bar surrounded by a sausage and liver cart, and four appetisers on the right, a molokheya station on the left, and Ramadan drinks in the front. Then there’s a pasta station alongside macaroni bechemel, and the main courses and soups are surrounding the desserts station. The arrangement and the sequence of the buffet was a bit confusing, but we managed.

We skipped the soup and headed straight to the salads and appetisers. The salad bar was basic but what we loved the most was the perfectly cooked and eggplant cubes topped with slightly garlicky yogurt sauce. We even took some crispy bread from the fattoush to make the best out of the eggplant salad.

As for the appetisers, we loved the crispy sambousak which was generously filled with cheese and the bits of mint were the cherry on top. There was also minced beef-stuffed sambousak that were perfectly seasoned and juicy. However, the chicken shawarma bites was our favourite item of the day. The bell pepper was slightly sautéed and had a little ‘crunch’ to it, the addition of sweet corn was really interesting and worked wonderfully, and the chopped coriander just took shawarma to a whole new level of deliciousness – not to mention the impressive light tomeya and tahini dips on the side. On the other hand, we were really annoyed by how the sausage and liver were cooked and served together; at the time of our visit, many of our fellow diners complained about being forced to have both, rather than one or the other. When asked, the chef refused.

Moving to the pasta station, we made a combo of penne mushroom pasta with cream sauce infused with garlic and fresh basil soaked in olive oil, and then sprinkled with parmesan cheese. It was cooked well, the basil just made it an exceptional pasta dish and gave it a beautiful aroma and freshness, while the very helpful and friendly pasta station chef made up for the liver/sausage issue.

Our fourth stop was at the molokheya station, where you can chicken, meat, or ‘3akawy’, though we kept it simple and just took the molokheya plain with some rice. It was a classic rich and flavourful molokheya made properly.

There was a decent variety of main dishes, from okra and fish fillet, to orzo with seafood and cabbage and carrot-stuffed chicken. We couldn’t try everything, but what stood out was the moussaka which had an exquisite garlicky tomato sauce and the minced beef was seasoned perfectly. Meanwhile, the mixed grill was really disappointing, as the kofta was super dry and tasted very bland, and the chicken had a poultry odor.

After taking a break to digest, we went to check the desserts and it was a bit too basic and lacked personality. It was full of fresh fruits and classic Oriental desserts that were the perfectly executed, but nothing stood out. We also found out that there was Om Ali behind the pasta station while leaving but it was, sadly, too late.

Despite the unorganised arrangement of the buffet, the food, flavour wise was great, everything was well-executed, the variety was decent, and it was just a great family fetar that suits everyone’s taste.