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

When it comes to dining, balancing quality and quantity is a hard thing to achieve, particularly when a restaurant’s prices are at the steep end – but Sizzler just might have got it right.

Hidden on Maadi’s Street 231, we made our way downstairs – yes downstairs – into the steakhouse where we were greeted with a darkly-lit palette of red, burgundy and brown. There’s a romantic touch to the whole venue that would be perfect for those special occasions, though there’s a multitude of seating options; normal tables, booths and even jazz bar-styled round booths.

After making our way to our booth we opted for the Sizzler Starter Combo Half Portion (80 LE), which includes two mozzarella sticks, two spring rolls, four loaded potato wedges, two chicken cordon bleus, four fried mushrooms and four sweet chilli chicken pieces, alongside two small bowls filled with honey mustard and thousand island sauces.

Offering a large amount of options in a single dish, the starter combo offers a little of everything from the appetiser menu and is the perfect dish for sharing. The mozzarella sticks had a brown crunchy crust, which made way for creamy, molten mozzarella, while the spring rolls’ tender vegetable stuffing worked perfectly in contrast to the golden, crispy shell.

The potato wedges, meanwhile, were topped with cheese and bacon bits; the smoky aftertaste of the bacon also worked well with the piercing flavour of the cheese, although the dish as a whole was under-seasoned.

The cordon bleu also hit the spot, with cheese and pieces of smoked beef oozing wonderfully out of the nicely seasoned chicken. Stuffed with yet more cheese – you can see a pattern here – the fried mushrooms offered a juicy tender centre to its well-seasoned breading. Even though topped with a large amount of sweet chilli sauce, the chicken pieces were not soggy and were rather firm, but were by far the best item of the dish, with the sauce offering an amazing sweet flavour with a subtle spiciness.

After another fifteen minutes, our main dishes arrived; the Sizzler Grilled fillet (165LE) and the Sizzler Fried Cordon Bleu (95LE) – two of the restaurant’s signature dishes.

Topped with the sauce of our choice the creamy roasted garlic sauce, the grilled fillet came with the sides of our choice, which were a bowl of sweet corn and yet more Loaded Wedges. Meaty and hearty, the fillet was perfectly seasoned and grilled to perfection, working well with the rich flavour of the sauce.

Similar to the ones in the starter dish, the wedges worked well with the dish and were given another layer of flavour once dipped into the garlic sauce. Buttery, flavourful and sweet, the corn was great and wrapped up the dish wonderfully.

With the option of selecting either a one or a two-piece dish, we opted for the two-piece when it came to the Fried Cordon Bleu. The two large square pieces were fried to perfection with a side of mashed potatoes topped with gravy and vegetable rice – basmati rice mixed with peas and carrot shavings.

After slicing into the huge golden brown squares, again the cheese flowed onto the plate making a lovely pool that was perfectly mixed with the rice; the chicken itself was a little dry so we added a little creamy brown mushroom sauce to it which worked wonders offering an extra kick to it.

Cooked to perfection the rice was great, with tender vegetables in it something unique and worked well with the chicken. Smooth, rich and fluffy are all the requirements of perfect mashed potatoes and we found them all in our dish, making it yet another highlight of an ongoing fiesta of flavours during our experience.

Sizzler has been able to walk a very thin line, offering very high quality dishes to its guests while still offering large portions with reasonable pricing, making it one of our favourite restaurants in Maadi. While Sizzler might have competition in the form of Spectra and Steak Out, if they keep dishing out the plates they do with the same quality, they have nothing to worry about.