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

Amongst the many restaurants and cafes, the big names and bright lights, lies Fogs; a small, unsuspecting café-come-restaurant that is easy to miss. It houses a casual, hushed atmosphere suitable for some quiet work or study time, or a simple catch-up with friends. It does so, in part, with its lounge-style chairs, wooden panelled walls and general simple, rustic-tinted decor.

The menu is quite small, but we made the most of it in ordering Quesadilla Chicken (53LE) and the Chicken Tenders (46 LE), Wings (55 LE) and the Creamy Baked Dip (43 LE).

The quesadilla had a delightful crunch to it and the chicken inside, which has mixed bell peppers and melted cheese with it, was tender, which all made for a perfect, quick snack.

Smokiness is name of the game when came to the wings; swimming in a thick, slightly sweet BBQ sauce that was still bubbling from the heat. Although it made the wings slightly soggy, the tender meat slid right off the bone.

The creamy baked dip, meanwhile, was mostly mozzarella cheese with a browned crust puffing out aromas of mixed herbs and spices, providing a faintly spicy flavour with a dash of saltiness to it. It was, again, a simple but tasty dish that worked perfectly with toasted bread.

As for the chicken tenders, each one of the five golden brown fingers had a satisfying crunch to them. Although unremarkable in terms of flavour on their own, they were much better when mixed with the accompanying thousand island sauce them.

Moving on to our mains, we ordered the Philly Cheese Steak Sliders (57LE) and Fogs Burger (52.90LE) with bacon (12LE). All the dishes came on a wooden tray with a side of basic fries seasoned with just salt and pepper in a metal basket.

Both slider dishes had three sliders with one huge melted cheese slice joining them together. We started with the Philly Cheese Steak which was topped with caramelised onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and, of course, cheese. The beef itself was slightly overcooked and chewy, but had a grill-smokiness to it which gave it a delightful aroma.

The Fog’s Burger, meanwhile, didn’t fare as well. The patty didn’t taste particularly fresh and was under-seasoned to the point where it was difficult to detect the taste of beef.

Setting our sights for our desserts, we ordered the Stacked PB Ice-Cream Brownie (53 LE) and the Cheesecake (43LE). The stacked PB came as two brownie cubes sandwiching a hefty amount of peanut butter with a side of a vanilla ice-cream with chocolate drizzled on top.

The brownies, which were warm and melted the peanut butter a little, had a sweet, rich chocolate fudge flavour and complimented the slight saltiness of the peanut butter perfectly.

The cheesecake, meanwhile, was very smooth and soft in texture to it, with the grated chocolate giving off a dash sweetness. Again – simple but effective.

Shisha has become a standard feature of the typical modern Egyptian cafe and Fog’s is no different. Costing a rather hefty 57LE, you have the option of choosing between a traditional shisha and a glass one. The latter comes as a small branded glass shisha with the coals suspended on a small glass pan over the tobacco. It gives a smooth taste to it rather than a smoky one, making it a nice watermelon-infused ending to our mixed experience.

And so what of this hidden place? Well, Fog’s is hard to attach to a name; is it a restaurant? It has food but nothing that would rival neighbouring restaurant in Waterway. Is it a café? It has good desserts and drinks, but it’s right next to Starbucks where the prices are similar. How about the shisha? The shisha is amazing, but is that enough?

 So what is Fogs at the end of our experience? It’s a place that offers decent food, good desserts and decent drinks with friendly staff and fantastic shisha; but so do a lot of places and it doesn’t give you much of a reason to pick it over its esteemed neighbours.