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

Overlooking the grand fountain at 6th of October’s Mall of Egypt, Beit El Ezz claims to offer cuisine the full Lebanese experience. With an outdoor smoking area overlooking the fountain and an air conditioned indoor area, the restaurant boasts a colorful aesthetic that uses mismatched, patched floral designs in the furniture, quirky touches like tarboush (fez) covered lights and various frames and knickknacks across the walls. It’s a bright and airy restaurant that even has an actual baking oven that makes the indoor area burst with aromas of freshly baked bread.

After taking our seats inside, we looked into the menu which was nicely designed with pictures that have a vintage look to them, but it did feel a bit cluttered.

We kicked off the meal with a selection of mezzah; vine leaves in olive oil (38LE), hummus with tahini (32LE), fried Kebbe (58LE) and the spicy potatoes (38LE). Arriving first was a steaming basket of freshly baked bread, with the appetisers quickly following in small metallic pots.

Served on a bed of lettuce, the vine leaves were juicy and bursting with a zesty aftertaste, while the hummus had an amazing, smooth texture. Coming in four large pieces, meanwhile the fried kebbe had a tender yet crispy shell with a layer of a medium cooked beef and a well-cooked centre that was bursting with herby notes and a hearty, meaty flavour. Finally the potatoes, which weren’t too spicy, had a sharp garlic flavour which might be off putting for some.

Moving onto our main dishes we ordered the Herbed Meat Shokaf (135LE) and the Mixed grill (140LE). Both dishes come with a side of French fries, a cup of toumeyah and grilled vegetables.

The herbed beef came as eight small pieces of well-seasoned beef, which had a slightly spicy aftertaste that was made even better after being dipped into the smooth toumeyah. As for the mixed grill it had a mix of shish tawook, beef kofta and kebab. The kebab tasted exactly like the herbed beef and the kofta had just enough fat to make it juicy and flavourful, while the chicken cubes of the shish tawook was perfectly spiced had us scrambling for more with every bite.

Finally we ordered the confusing cotton candy ice-cream (52LE) as our dessert – confusing because, firstly, it turned out to be simply vanilla ice cream topped with white cotton candy. Secondly, the ice cream tasted closer to mastic, while the cotton candy – the key ingredient – didn’t have that punch to drive the dessert home.

Nonetheless, Beit el Ezz’s attentive service and overall good food could be described it best as better version of something like Studio Masr. Does it offer anything out of the ordinary? No, but it’s good at what it does and delivers on its promise. And that’s all you can ask for of any restaurant.