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

The donut ice cream cone trend of was introduced to Egypt by Rony’s Truck last year and our experience wasn’t the best. However, there was no competition for Rony’s until Conut opened its sweet and savoury donut cone shop.

Located on El Horreya Street in Heliopolis, Conut is a small shop which has one table with a mini couch and few chairs, and one wide fixed high table with high chairs facing a white brick that sports an amazing hand painted drawing of three donut ice cream cones. It isn’t the most comfortable set-up but it works as a waiting area for takeout customers. There are two small chalkboards which are used as menus, one for the savoury items and the other for the sweets.

Starting with the savoury, you can fill the cone with hot dog, burger, sausage and grilled chicken or, our options, chicken strips (40LE), with an addition of extra Cheese (5LE). The cone itself had a slightly dense yet spongy interior which was similar to a bagel and we loved the extra kick from the pieces of black olive. Despite the cheese melting perfectly in the middle, it wasn’t melted on top of the cone, while the chicken strips were far too salty and dry and crying out for something moist – maybe some marinara sauce would have made all the difference.

Hoping for better results with the sweet options, we opted for a Standard Conut (30LE) and Chocolate Conut (35LE).

Rolled in cinnamon-sugar mix, the donut cone itself was super light and soft with a beautiful golden brown colour to it. However, the ice cream was already melting when it was served and the inside of the conut wasn’t coated with chocolate as it should be (something that many places in Cairo that offer the dessert neglect), which explained the constant dripping and why it’s unattractively served in a plastic cup. Meanwhile, the chocolate conut was almost identical, but it was rolled in chocolate chips instead. It’s a great choice for chocoholics.

All in all, our visit to Conut had its ups and downs. The place itself is very simple and the ambiance is demure; the donut cones were perfectly executed, but it’s the fillings that let them down.