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

This list is focusing on the venues that continuously do their best to improve and provide the food scene with creative and mouthwatering dishes that will make your taste buds very, very happy. We couldn’t be more ecstatic about  each and every single one of them and here’s why:

Korean Panko Shrimp – Fuego

Just because it’s a sushi place doesn’t mean that you should skip its grill menu, because otherwise, you’ll miss out on the out-of-this-world deliciousness of the fried panko-crusted shrimp. Fuego’s starter, which boasts an exquisite coating of sweet and garlicky Korean chilli sauce, and is served with coleslaw.

Fries Harra – Lebanese Diner

Just imagine the all-time favourite Lebanese batata harra with a twist! This place simply replaced the potato cubes with fries, whose size and thickness boosted the taste of the heavenly-made mix of spicy chilli, garlic, and fresh coriander.

Fried Chicken Tacos – Gracias

While everyone is used to the idea of tacos filled with grilled or shredded protein, Gracias decided to make fried chicken tacos that are laid on a bed of coleslaw, topped with pico de Gallo and sour cream. Can we also just appreciate the fact that they’re using corn tortilla?

Attayef Kebbeh – Semsom

We can tell that this place is obsessed with kebbeh, and so are we. The one kebbeh dish that definitely caught our attention was their attayef kebbeh. It’s exactly like the classic ones, but who would’ve thought that shaping kebbeh like attayef would create a flawless kebbeh dough-to-filling ratio? Also, placing it on top of a bed of mohamara elevated the taste of the all-time favourite classic.

Euro Steak – Ovio

This is what we call a flavour bomb; toasted mustard-ciabatta bread, filled with perfectly seared, sliced steak with demi-glace sauce, mushrooms, onion, pepper, Emmental, sun-dried tomato, and arugula tossed in balsamic vinegar. If you’re not ordering this right now, then it’s a big ‘missed steak’. Pun definitely intended.

Boneless 1/2 Bird with Waffles – Chicken & Ribs

Chicken and waffles is a dish we absolutely love from Chicken and Ribs, yet it’s a hassle to eat with all the bones in the chicken. Their updated menu, thankfully, now has a boneless 1/2 bird with waffles, which is basically seven pieces of chicken strips that comes with a side sauce of your choice – we’re not trying to influence you, but it should be extra maple syrup.

Yakiniku Barbecue – Kazoku

Yakiniku means “grilled meat” in Japan; it also means deliciousness at Kazoku. How could you go wrong with a perfectly grilled piece of tenderloin, served with spring onion aioli? Their new culinary advisor is doing a great job because we absolutely love everything about the latest recipes here.

Falafel with Cheese and Basterma – Felfela

Renowned for its light, fluffy, and flavourful falafel, Felfela takes it up another notch, stuffing its Egyptian classic with cheese and pastrami; it’s probably the best we’ve ever had. We could have this every single day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Double Original Cheeseburger – BRGR

We have so many burger places in Cairo, but only a few butter their buns, use good quality beef for their patty, and use toppings, sauces, and cheese in a way that compliment without overshadowing the flavour of the patty. Thank you, BRGR, for giving us the perfect classic cheeseburger.

All Stars boxes –Kansas Fried Chicken

The box is the perfect way to try Kansas’ OH-SO-GOOD fried chicken sandwiches! This goodness is great for a movie night; it has three sandwiches – bomber, famous, and big boss, 6 crispy chicken strips, 6 onion rings, 3 boomers, family-sized fries, large coleslaw, and large soda – fast food done properly.

Hawawshi Spicy – Zooba

We’ve always believed that hawawshi is the Egyptian incarnation of burgers. However, no one has ever got creative with it for some reason. That’s why we fell in love with Zooba’s Spicy Hawawshi. It’s topped with harissa-raisin hot sauce, orange carrot slaw, and tahini; it’s the perfect combination of the sweet and the savoury.

Smoked Chicken Drumsticks – Kazlak

The name says it all; these fall-off-the-bone drumsticks are incredibly moist and tender, with a terrific smoky flavour  -just like everything Kazlak makes. It’s served with your choice of Kazlak glaze, spicy smoked Sichuan, or BBQ sauce.

Here’s also a round of desserts that you definitely need to try out:

Honeycomb Affogato – Dara’s Ice Cream

Dara’s Ice Cream took coffee and ice cream to a whole new level by collaborating with Egyptian coffee brand, Brown Nose to create its own coffee blend and use it in its Affogato. For those who are not acquainted with this Italian classic, it is basically a double espresso with an ice cream scoop – to which Dara’s Ice Cream has added its own touch, using its very own coffee blend with a scoop of honeycomb ice cream,  as well as crumbling honeycomb on top. Because, why not?

Churrookie – Weirdough

Nothing beats a classic chocolate chip cookie – especially if it’s from Weirdough – but if you try out its Churrookie, you’ll definitely be hooked! Is it a cookie, or is it a churro? All we know is that it’s rolled in a cinnamon/sugar mix, filled with a mouthwatering dulce de leche. And that it tastes like heaven!

Banoffee Gelato – Stavolta

Besides their Michelin star-worthy almond gelato, we discovered their banoffee gelato flavour, which has all the elements of a banoffee pie in a gelato form. You’ll get the bold banana flavour, loads of caramel, and bits of biscuit to complete this masterpiece.