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

Last time we tried Ravish, we enjoyed their simple and well-executed burgers at their fun Korba branch. A lot has changed since last year and, unfortunately, the changes aren’t for the better. One major change, for example, is closing Ravish’s branch in Korba and moving to Palm Hills, Sheikh Zayed.

As a venue, the burger joint is more of a takeout place, as it’s basically formed of a long counter facing a fixed table with one wooden box for a chair, leaving a very tight path in-between that barely takes one person. However, there are two tables placed outside of the restaurant. The interior is simple and cute; painted all in white, the walls have a number of narrow wooden sheets scattered horizontally, while randomly dangling from the ceiling are several lamps and ropes, giving you the feeling of a DIY kind-of design. One thing they’ve kept from their previous branch is the exposed kitchen, which was behind the cashier.

While checking the menu, we were excited to try the grilled chicken sandwich with pineapple and teriyaki, but it wasn’t available at the time of our visit. Sadly, that wasn’t the only item unavailable; over half of the menu was unavailable and leaving us with only five sandwiches and two sides to choose from. Out of the food that was available, we opted for the Mac & Cheese Bomb (52LE) and Texas Cheese Fries (54LE) as appetisers, and the Smokey Bacon (69.5LE), Spicy Mexican (69.5LE) and Signature Mushroom (69.5LE).

A power outage meant that the appetisers and some of the ingredients in one of the burgers (namely onion rings) were late, but we soldiered on.

Before we even got to the food, we loved the cardboard boxes that the burgers are served in, which when open,  blossoms into a plate and you can easily fold it back into a box; but we really do miss the restaurant’s old fancy-schmancy navy slates.

We started our burger feast with the Spicy Mexican Burger, which consists of a beef patty topped with a slice of spicy cheddar cheese, jalapeño, caramelised onions, chipotle mayo, avocado, tomato and lettuce. Despite the bun being deliciously soft and puffy, the patty was dry and slightly chewy. Things only got worse; it was missing the avocado and caramelised onions and the cheese wasn’t melted at all.

The second sandwich was the Signature Mushroom, which was topped with caramelised onions, sauteed mushroom, and dijon mayo sauce. Despite it being a little too salty overall, we loved the smokey and sweet flavours of the caramelised onions, which  were a perfect match for the earthy flavours of the mushrooms. However, the combination overpowered the dijon mayo sauce, which there wasn’t enough of.

Lacking the tempura onion rings, expectations were low for the Smokey Bacon Burger. But although it wasn’t perfect, it was one of the best BBQ and bacon burgers we’ve had in a while, thanks to how perfectly crispy the bacon was and the sensible amount of BBQ sauce, which went great with the smoked cheddar.

Eventually, the appetisers arrived, but the chili beef was missing from the Texas fries, because, again, it wasn’t available and the Smokey Bacon Burger’s missing onion rings never arrived. Although missing the chili beef and being topped with too little cheese, we enjoyed the skin-on Texas fries, which were crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside – they were just missing some salt.

The mac & cheese bombs were five pieces of fried mac and cheese that were, unfortunately bland in flavour, had a slightly burnt crust and lacked the rich, cheesy flavours an appetiser like this demands. The filling, however, had a great texture.

We’re not sure what to feel about this review; we’re really disappointed that so much of the menu was unavailable at the time of our visit, the place isn’t particularly welcoming or comfortable and the beef patties just ain’t what they used to be. The whole electricity issue obviously added pressure on the one-man-army staff, but  overall, as bad as the review might seem, we would have no problems in ordering food from Ravish again – but to-go, maybe.