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

As the long stretch of road that straddles the borders of
Mohandiseen and Dokki, Tahrir Street is home to a variety of Egyptian
restaurants and food vendors. You can find everything from Koshary El Tahrir to
small liver and sausage sandwich stands hidden in the side roads. Taza is a shawerma
restaurant that has gathered a bit of a cult following among Cairo’s locals,
visitors and expats alike. Outside the small shop, clusters of hungry people
gather around the shawerma stand and the cashier. The inside of the shop is
usually inhabited by diners, sitting and standing, tucking into their grub.

The menu is confusing, to say the least, because it’s
difficult to decipher items such as the chicken roll or the pizza chicken sandwich.
Unfortunately, the staff that we sought help from was none the wiser. One
glance at the small space of the restaurant is enough to notice that Taza’s
customers rarely venture from the shawerma or kofta sandwiches.

We can see why, though; because the shawerma is pretty
addictive. The small and medium sizes are redundant and completely insufficient
for satisfying a craving. For 11.50LE, you get a large, perfectly seasoned and
cooked shawerma sandwich, whose tehina and salad are as essential as the meat
itself. As with all shawerma places; the chicken version just doesn’t live up
to its beef counterpart. We usually expect to complain about greasy meat in a
shawerma sandwich, but the chicken was actually a little dry.

Taza also offers a range of more substantial grilled dishes
including kofta, shish tawouk and grilled chicken (16LE). We tried the latter
and found it to be unspectacular, but as good as a 16LE half-chicken could be.
It was pretty heavily grilled and had that nice charcoal-grilled taste. 

We also tried a portion of fries (2.50LE for the medium, 4LE
for the large) and were presently surprised. Taza’s fries have a slightly
chunky, floppy and unevenly cut quality about them.

Of course, no Egyptian sandwich joint would be complete without
foul and falafel sandwiches, and Taza offers them as such for 1.25LE a pop. However,
we’d recommend you pop over to Gad across the road, because based on our falafel
sandwich, Taza spends more time on its meat sandwiches; the falafel was cold
and dry.

It’s easy to see why Taza has become so popular and
continues to be so busy. The delicious shawerma sandwich is the restaurant’s
pillar, but you’ll need patience and thick skin to tolerate the queues and
blasé staff.