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

On a corner of El Gomhouria Square in
Mohandiseen sits a two-storey building that looks like a villa. Golio’s is
located on the ground floor, below the Bread Basket. The open-air space of
the café/restaurant lets the sunshine in onto the wooden flooring and the grey
and white interior, while pillars shaped like the trunks of palm trees add a
nice touch.

The area itself is circular, and the
seating is arranged similarly. A retractable roof is another nice touch to the
restaurant, allowing you to look out at the starry Cairo skies in the evening.

There are several television screens around
the restaurant, which, at the time of this reviewer’s visit, were all set to
different channels, including the one above the toilet sinks. Although you
wouldn’t be far off calling this a restaurant, no non-smoking areas and plenty
of shishas (15LE to 20LE) give it a café atmosphere.

To start off our meal, we decided to test
out Golio’s cold drinks; namely the orange juice (20LE) and the lemon and mint
smoothie (29LE). Both were suitably fresh and refreshing. For starters, we
opted for the tomato soup and the cream of mushroom soup (both 25LE). Both are served with crusty bread, and
overall were pleasant, but didn’t exceed our expectations.

For our main course, we ordered from the Authentic
Sicilian Pasta section, with dishes priced between 42LE and 65LE. This reviewer
opted for the piccata with mushroom and lemon sauce, with sautéed vegetables
and mashed potatoes. The piccata was cooked perfectly, and the sauce was served
in a generous portion, but not too overpowering like lemon sauces tend to be.
The vegetables and mashed potatoes were cooked perfectly and overall, the dish
was presented very nicely.

We also tried the Cotoletta alla Milanese (75LE): sautéed and bread-crumbed veal escalope. It
is usually served with a side of pasta with tomato sauce, but we asked for rice
and fries instead. Like the piccata, everything on this dish was cooked
perfectly and tasted even better.

We were
licking our lips at the prospect of having profiteroles (28LE) for dessert, but
were disappointed to find that they only had two of the six desserts offered on
the menu, in addition to a crêpe dessert that wasn’t even on the menu. We
settled for the fruit salad (23LE) instead. The serving was large and included
red and yellow apple, kiwi, banana, melon and pomegranate cut into large and
small pieces. All the ingredients tasted fresh, and were a healthy and filling
finale to the meal.

Although
we had little to complain about throughout the evening, we were a little irked
by the amount of shisha smoke that lingered around; not the ideal condition to
be eating in. Add to that the uncomfortable seating and the 76LE tax that was
added to our bill; a bit of the gloss was taken off of what could have been a
top dining experience. Despite this, Golio’s is worth at least one trip.