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

We heard it through the grapevine that a new restaurant/café had opened up
in Zamalek, offering the best pizza in Egypt as well as other Italian
specialties. Our quest for good pizza
never stops; it is the best comfort food after all. We couldn’t stop
ourselves from running to Lino’s, located on the Abul Feda Corniche next to Coffee
Shop Company and Abdel Wahab.

To get
into the restaurant, take the main entrance under the huge blue 33 sign. This
is the main entrance to all restaurants located on this strip. Lino’s is to
your left and situated around the gravel pit resembling toilet. Just like the
other venues nearby, Lino’s loves water, and we love Lino’s glass water walls.
It made this reviewer almost burst into a song and dance with an umbrella
(ella, ella).

Lino’s has indoor spaces with big purple baroque chairs and
TV screens. There are seating areas right by the Nile and on the upper
al-fresco level too. Upon our arrival, the waiter informed us that all these seats
were reserved; so we were seated on the first floor at a table that was so
poorly lit; we had to use our cell phone lights to read the menus.

After
browsing for a while, we ordered the carciofi al Italiana (39LE), filetto alla pizzaiola
(75LE), pizza gorgonzola (45LE) and the filetto Robespierre (75LE). According
to the menu, the carcioffi (artichokes) are filled with garlic shrimp, tomato
and olives as well as onion and parmesan. What sounded very promising and tasty
turned out to be a bit dry and flavourless. The four artichokes weren’t fresh
and their texture was chewy and rubbery. The filling was pretty tasteless as well
and for 39LE we found that a bit of a shame.

Hoping for better, we move onto the two filleto dishes. The pizzaiola was tasty, a bit
spicy and with a nice amount of sauce. On the other hand, the Robespierre was a
bit of a miss. The menu promised ruccola, mushrooms and parmesan; but we only
received mushrooms. The meat wasn’t as tender as we’d have liked it to
be,  and we had to send back our side dish of pasta which was undercooked.

All our
hopes rested on the pizza; which thankfully turned out to be delicious. The
pizza was large with a thin crust and not much cheese but enough to give it a
nice flavour. It could have done with a few more minutes in the oven, though;
because the dough wasn’t well-cooked in the centre. Despite that, it was one of
the best pizzas that this reviewer has had in Cairo.

We
wanted to end our meal with the tiramisu, but unfortunately it wasn’t
available. Instead, we received a cup of coffee on the house. Though the coffee’s
foam topping was nice and a bit sweet, the coffee itself wasn’t great. It was
diluted and didn’t give us the wake-up jolt we’d expected. All in all, Lino’s
is fine for pizza, but the rest of the food – according to this reviewer’s
experience – is a bit mediocre.