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

Delivery-based Mexican cuisine specialist, Gringo’s Burrito, hasn’t scored too highly in previous Cairo 360 reviews, with one of the main reasons being the fact that Mexican food isn’t built particularly well for transportation. However, Gringo’s opened a full-on dine-in branch in December while also updating their menu with endless choices – and let’s say that we fell in love.

Located on Maadi’s busy Road 9, the restaurant is quite small with a few tables and seats set-up outside. Inside, an L-shaped bar offers a wide variety of protein, toppings and sauces which gives you the chance to create unlimited flavour combinations while making your very own burrito, taco, or even salad. From picking your toppings and watching your food being made, to the quote on the wall that says “Usually when you roll something this good it is illegal”, Gringo’s ambiance is just super fun and full of cheerful vibes.

Before we made our own Burritos and Tacos, we opted for the Chili Nacho Fiesta (53LE) as an appetiser. There was plenty of heat to the crispy tortilla chips from the picante sauce and chilli con carne which had boldly spiced flavours which were perfectly balanced by the richness of the queso dip, sour cream, ‘taquiro’ – creamy avocado sauce – and guacamole. The pico de gallo, meanwhile, added a crisp freshness to every bite. Although many often complain about the inconsistent distribution of toppings on a dish like this, the random placed toppings on this dish actually worked in its favour. There were so many different flavours that each chip carried a different combination of flavours.

When it comes to ‘making your own’, you have four steps to go through. The menu itself was a bit confusing, so we recommend that you ask for help. First you start by picking between a burritos, burrito bowls, tacos, enchiladas and salads; then, you pick the protein, then the toppings and finally the sauces.

We made our own burrito (53LE) and filled it with grilled chicken, cilantro-lime rice, fajita veggies, guacamole, queso and taquiro sauce. Despite the huge amount of rice compared to the rest of the filling, the rice was perfectly cooked and had bold a cilantro flavour. Though the fajita veggies were simply sautéed coloured bell peppers and onions, they were a great match for the grilled chicken. The queso, meanwhile, made everything that little bit better, because who doesn’t love melted cheese dip?

As for the Taco Fiesta (52LE), you get to make three tacos with your choice of soft or hard shell tacos. The first sweet and spicy taco was filled with tender grilled chicken, fresh pineapple salsa which had a pleasant heat from the chili in it, and picante sauce. We kept it simple with the Carne Asada taco – our favourite – to enjoy the delicious marinated flank steak, topping it with only fresh onion, cilantro and taquiro sauce. The last one was machaca shredded beef, which was bursting with flavours that were further complimented by our addition of queso, pico de gallo and sour cream.

We also gave the Burrito Bowl (53LE) a try. A big plastic box is filled with Mexican rice with a strong tomato flavour. The dish is topped with sweet corn and smoky red beans, which worked perfectly with the flavourful chilli con carne, shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream. The burrito bowl is definitely an underrated item; the portion was huge and it’s a perfect choice for lunch at work.

You’d think that we had no more space for dessert, but we finished our feast with Cream & Fruits Minichanga (23LE); three deep-fried flutas – tortilla rolls – filled with a spot-on amount of mango and cream, then drizzled with concentrated hibiscus sauce which added a terrific tart touch to the overall flavour. We know that the Nutella Empanada is hard to resist, but this is a must-try.

It was the perfect ending to a fantastic meal. We couldn’t help but be impressed that the same place that too often delivered soggy chips and broken tacos is the same place that created the to-die-for tacos and burritos that we continued to talk about for days after our visit.