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

We love when a new burger restaurant in Cairo opens and with competition fierce across the capital, the newest player on the scene comes from New Zealand.

Burger Fuel labels itself as a gourmet burger restaurant and prides itself in offering vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options approved by the Vegetarian Society, while their meat options are 100% beef and chicken. With a purple colour scheme a stainless steel open, Burger Fuel looked certainly looks the part.

The staff greets you as you walk in and explain to you the somewhat unusual topping choices on the menu, including mango, beetroot and avocados and their special aioli; an egg yolk based sauce made with garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. We decided to try a simple burger to judge the patty and a more extravagant burger to see how the toppings work together.

We opted for a C N Cheese (39LE) – topped with melted cheddar and parmesan, onions, relish and aioli – and a BF Monster (49LE), which comes with melted cheddar, beetroot, mango, avocado, beef bacon, lettuce, tomato slices and onions and topped with relish and aioli.

Alongside the burgers, we also ordered Spud Fries (14LE) and Motobites (29LE); crumbed pumpkin, ginger and carrot bites served with yoghurt relish or aioli dip.

When your waiter brings your food, they bring with them a Doofer; a patented folding cardboard burger holder that minimizes dripping and leaking. The waiters will gladly demonstrate how to fold it and place your burger inside.

The burgers come in paper bags on a tray, which is then a bit of a challenge to get in the Doofer without taking all the layers apart. The first impression on the C N Cheese was, disappointingly, where’s the cheese? The patty, while tasting fresh, simply lacked flavour.

With the BF Monster, the beetroot made for a lot of extra juice, which made things that bit trickier considering the number of toppings. With that said, however, the topping did contrast nicely, mixing the sweetness of the beetroot and mangos with the meat flavour from both the patty and the bacon. As for the patty itself, it too lacked flavour.

The Spud Fries, thickly cut and fried to perfection, were actually some of the best fries we’ve tried at a burger place, and tasted great with the aioli. The Motobites, an interesting combination of pumpkin ginger and carrots fried in batter and soft on the inside, were a pleasant new experience, though maybe not best thing to eat with a burger.

While the burgers weren’t the best we’ve had, Burger Fuel is a welcome new member of what is becoming a pretty crowded collection of burger places.