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

Overlooking the fountain at The Spot Mall in New Cairo, Mediterranean restaurant, Carpe Diem, has slowly been gaining popularity since opening in 2014. The two floor venue has a basic outdoor area, but it’s the upstairs area that really holds its charm. Basting couches, sofas and even a few armchairs, it very much fits a lounge-style.

After taking our seats on one of the sofas and checking the menu, we opted for the Chicken Quesadillas (86LE) as our appetizers, in addition to the Alexander Beef Stroganoff (118LE), the Philly steak sandwich (89LE) and the Fisherman Hook Pizza (113LE), as our mains to follow.

Although the venue was almost empty, it took about thirty minutes for the appetiser to arrive. Coming on a large white plate, there were eight slices of Quesadillas with a side of pico de gallo and a scoop of sour cream.

While the chicken stuffing, thanks to bell peppers and melted cheese, was flavoursome, the tortilla bread was rather oily and tasteless. Not of any help, the pico de gallo was not fresh and had a weird tang, making us avoid it all together. 

After almost another twenty minutes, our mains arrived. Served in mushroom and onions brown sauce, with rice and peas on the side, the Alexander Beef Stroganoff lacked both presentation and seasoning; the beef itself was rubbery and the sauce, which was watery, suffered a massive amount of diced onions, whose taste overpowered that of the beef. Equally disappointing, the rice was bland and needed a little more oomph to it.

As for the Philly Steak sandwich, which was served in ciabatta bread along with homemade chips and salad; other fillings like cheese, onions and peppers didn’t make up for the rubbery beef, which, too tough, turned every bite into a chore. Just as dry, the bread had a crispy shell external shell that didn’t work that well with the beef overall. Amid the chaos, the homemade chips fared a lot better than the main attraction; it was crispy, crunchy and well seasoned, giving off a nice herby smell.

Our final main was the Fisherman Hook pizza, which was a medium-sized thin crust pizza topped with anchovies, calamari, shrimp, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and parsley. While the crust and the mozzarella cheese worked well together, the excessive amount of anchovies gave an overpowering fishy taste and smell, making the pizza almost inedible and yet another disappointing dish.

After our mains we ordered the Orange Smoothie (35LE) and the Vanilla Frappe (35LE) as our drinks. In addition to being watery, the first was so sour that we couldn’t finish more than half of it, while the second, strangely, looked and tasted like a chocolate Frappe; asking the waiter about the case of the latter, we were told that that is how the Vanilla Frappe is done.

Finally, we opted for the Sweet Delight (37LE) for dessert, which came as a small jar of raspberry cheese cake; the topping was fine with a nice sharp taste that complemented the sweetness of the cheese cake, which had a nice smooth rich texture to it.

As delightful as the dessert was, the experience at Carpe Diem, as a whole, was disappointing at the time of our visit. Starting from the slow service, all the way to the missteps in what could have been fantastic dishes, we might could put this down to a bad day – and when it comes to restaurants, it’s a marathon not a race. Carpe Diem has the potential to be a favourite in New Cairo.