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

Mokattam
is not the first place that comes to mind when most Cairenes plan a night out,
so – like many of the coffee and shisha places in this area – Bambo Café is unlikely
to be packed full of people when you visit.

However,
on certain occasions such as on football match nights, Bambo Café really comes into
its own with a large, 2.5 metre-wide projector screen entertaining you while you
sample the ice cream menu, sip your way through the various sodas and cocktails
on offer and puff your night away on the various flavours of rich shisha.

This is
a no-nonsense shisha café and does not sell alcohol, cooked food or sandwiches.
It is smartly decked inside and semi-spacious, but nothing designed to wow you. Wi-Fi is available for the 40 or so
seats inside and can still be accessed outside where there is room for around twenty
more. The clientele is mainly male, most of whom are in their late twenties.

Expect
waiters to attend to you fairly quickly on arrival, but you will need to ask
for the menu as most people are local and the waiters assume you know what they
offer.

While the
ice cream tasted a little old, we can recommend the straight juices, which are
made fresh and taste delicious. The orange and lemon juices are fantastic,
simple but thirst-quenching, and they are second only to the banana with milk,
served cold with chunks of banana for texture. Cold drinks cost between 7LE and
12LE

Warm
drinks come in the shape of tea, coffee and hot chocolate, all of which are
pretty standard with little to set them apart from other cafés, though there is
a rather full-flavoured Nutella chocolate drink that is worth a sample.

The
shisha itself comes light and if you want it a little stronger, you should say
so at the start. Flavours are the usual suspects of
apple, grape, cherry and melon, or you can opt for the cocktail, which
strangely tastes like orange. Waiters are quite attentive and if they do forget
you, a quick wave will have someone rush over with more coal. A lay will cost
you 10LE.

Located at the beginning of Road 90, Bambo is
well-placed for convenience, but propped up facing the old fountain opposite
the Metro and Exchange, it is not in the prettiest spot in town.