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

Italian cuisine
is undoubtedly one of the most popular cuisines in Cairo. There are pasta
restaurants all over the city and pizzas are just as commonly found as koshary.
Cairo is full of Italian restaurant chains, including La Casetta, which has several
branches all over town. The restaurant’s branch in Heliopolis is located at the
end of El Merghany Street close to Alle Botti.

The interior
of La Casetta is like that of a tavern with brown wood used throughout the
restaurant.The decoration comes close to being hilarious with antique ironers
on side tables and wooden forks on the walls next to replicas of famous paintings.
La Casetta is appropriate for big groups with tables serving from two persons up to
twelve persons.

The menu
is huge with lots of different meals ranging from pastas, pizzas and meat to fish
dishes and curries as well. On a healthy spree, we sampled the tuna salad
(24LE) as a starter. What looked like melted cheese was actually dressing all
over the salad. Aside from the enormous amount of tuna, there were tomatoes,
onions and olives but only two leaves of lettuce; so much for our healthy eating. While the salad was filling enough to be a main meal, the garlic bread that
arrived as a side was strong, and appropriately buttery.

For our
main courses, we had the pasta salmone (40LE) and the vegetarian pizza (35LE).
The salmon pasta’s white sauce was a bit sour and not even the capers could
make it taste better. Although the salmon
portion was disappointingly small, the pasta was cooked well and because of
the creamy texture of the sauce the meal was very filling.

Unfortunately,
the vegetarian pizza wasn’t satisfactory: its base was very thick and hard to bite
through. Although it was topped with an abundance of cheese, the mushrooms, peppers and onions were scarce. All
in all, the food wasn’t terrific.

However,
service at La Casetta was very fast. The waiter memorised our orders, which arrived exactly as we had requested them and
within fifteen minutes of ordering them, even though the restaurant was packed at
the time of our visit. The background music is your typical elevator music; think
Peter Cetera and the Eagles.

If you
are in the area and need a quick bite, La Casetta is a great option for fast
service: you can be in and out within half hour with a full stomach. However,
this restaurant definitely doesn’t serve authentic Italian cuisine; so go
elsewhere if that’s what you’re looking for.