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

Dandy Mall is filling out pretty nicely,
and its latest addition is international ice cream vendor Marble Slab. Having
made its way from the US to the Gulf, Marble Slab has been eagerly awaited by
fans in Cairo. This is the first of what is likely to be many branches in the city sits
across from healthy fast-food restaurant Express by Mo.

Choosing your order is a bit of a process. There
are only three stages of decision-making – type of cone, flavour of ice cream
and mix-ins – but there are so many options that first-timers may well crumble
into a panicky wreck. Thankfully, though, the incredibly enthusiastic and
helpful staff is happy to give you a taste-testing course and run-through of
how your creation is made.

After picking out of the many ice cream
flavours, which include everything from bubblegum and cheesecake to mango and
honey, your preferred number of scoops are taken for mixing on the frozen
marble slab; hence the name. Flattened out like dough, your ice cream is then
topped and meshed with the mix-ins of your choice before being reconstructed in
to scoops and placed in a paper cup, a cone or a cone-cup.

Several chocolate or candy-coated cones are
available to build your creation on, and having sampled a spoonful of crushed
Heath Bar (5LE) – an American chocolate bar made of chocolate, butter and
almonds – we plumped for the Heath Bar-coated cone over other notable types
like the sprinkle-covered and white chocolate cones (5LE to 6LE).

We chose a simple but delicious sweet cream
ice cream (18LE for one scoop), and asked our friend behind the counter to
lather more crushed Heath Bar as well and crushed Kit-Kat (5LE). Every element
of this mammoth ice cream was perfect. The fresh and crunchy cone, the subtly
sweet and creamy ice cream and the mix-ins blended together flawlessly.

We also tried the apple and cinnamon ice
cream and mixed-in more Heath Bar. To the staff’s credit, they know ice cream.
The apple and cinnamon alone was pretty good and vivid in taste, but the almond
and butter combo of the Heath Bar made it creamier without taking anything away
from its taste. Other mix-ins include sprinkles, gummy bear and Snickers.

Nothing’s perfect, and neither is Marble
Slap. While the shop is as big as it needs to be, there are only two small
tables, while other seating is outside on the other side of the pathway that
leads to its entrance. Granted, that’s
quite nit-picky, but we had more to be aggrieved about. While there are enough
ice cream flavours to satisfy casual ice cream eaters, Marble Slab fans will be
quick to notice that this branch offers only a small section of what Marble
Slab branches in the US and the Gulf offer.

However, with so many potential
combinations of ice cream alone, it’s unlikely that Marble Slab’s novelty will
run dry any time soon. We won’t question why the ice cream chain has launched
in the middle of winter; but instead we praise the fact that it backs all its flash
and high prices with substance.