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

We don’t know what it is about El
Gouna, but for some reason this Red Sea resort offers some of the best dining
spots in Egypt. In fact, this reviewer will go out on a limb and say that many
of El Gouna’s restaurants offer better cuisine than the most popular
restaurants in Cairo.

Take Jobos, for example. Having sampled
burgers all around Cairo, we can safely say that Jobos’ mouth-wateringly
delicious burgers are the best that we’ve ever had. This reviewer brought along
a whole crew of fickle eaters to try them, and Jobos passed with flying colours
for its calorie-laden but undeniably yummy burgers.

Located across from Tamr Henna Café
on the cobblestone courtyard of Downtown Gouna, Jobos Sportsbar offers open-air
dining and partially shaded indoor seating, where wooden tables and chairs are
arranged in front of a large projector screen showing football matches. If you
missed the ‘sports bar’ part of the name, the sports memorabilia decorating all the
walls are a subtle reminder.

Jobos is not all
about football and being surrounded by enthusiastic fans yelling at the screen.
The restaurant has an excellent charcoal grill, and we highly recommend any
meat dish that comes off it.

For starters, the loaded potato
(35LE) is large enough to be shared by two people: the baked potato comes piled
with crispy beef bacon bits mixed with creamy mayonnaise and mashed potatoes
and a side of a rather sour cream that was hardly needed. The chicken nachos
(45LE) also came in a generous portion with heaps of cheese, peppers and sour cream to dip
the nachos into.

If you have a small appetite, we
recommend that you go straight for the main course of burgers, as they’re quite
filling. Be warned, though; there’s no elegant or polite way of eating these
messy but heavenly burgers. At a starting price of 52LE, Jobos’ burgers
definitely aren’t cheap; but they’re definitely worth it.

The classic cheese burger (52LE),
ranch burger (55LE), bacon cheese burger (59LE) and Tex-Mex burger (59LE) are
all expertly grilled using quality meat; so the meat patty is ever-so-slightly
pink in the centre with all its juicy flavour retained. The ranch burger is
embarrassingly messy as it comes filled with coleslaw that works surprisingly well.
All burgers come with a side of spicy potato wedges, though we would recommend
opting for their French fries (14LE) with their special cream sauce instead.

Given the overzealous amount of food
that we ordered, there was little room for dessert; so we ordered sodas
(14LE), beer (25LE for a Heineken) and shishas from the nearby Tamr Henna.
Although we’re pretty sure that a shisha at Tamr Henna costs 8LE, we were
charged 20LE for our order, which is probably due to the ten-metre walk that
the shisha guy had to make to reach Jobos. However, if you’re too heavy to move
and would like a shisha and a cold drink while watching the game; stick to Jobos.

If you’re ever in El Gouna and
yearning for a juicy, fat burger full of flavour and calories, Jobos is highly
recommended.