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Gad
This fast-food eatery is usually packed to the rafters with a constant stream of young Cairenes sampling its fresh and well-priced food. The fiteer with Greek cheese is scrumptious and the quarter chicken with rice and salad is both tasty and very good value. You can sit upstairs or take away from the streetfront counters. There are branches throughout the city, including opposite the Khan al-Khalili.
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Gomhouriya
Stuffed pigeon is the only thing on the menu, but it's splendid, served with salad and all-you-can-drink mugs of peppery, lemony broth. No alcohol, and easy to miss because it's small and there's no English sign; look for the big open oven. Out back are a few tables, along with sinks for washing off the grease when you're done nibbling the tasty fowl.
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International Public Meal Kushari
The grand chandeliers, etched mirrors and marble walls of this Cairo institution stand in bizarre contrast with its sawdust-strewn floor and Formica-topped tables. The quality of the kushari is only average, but the waiters are friendly and service is fast.
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Justine's
Resembling a discreet gentleman's club, with panoramic views over the lush gardens of the Gezira Club, Justine's is the perfect place for a romantic dinner or important business meeting. Comfortable leather furniture, subdued lighting and pristine napery set a classy tone that the food more than lives up to. This is one of the best places in town to enjoy beef dishes or quality seafood concoctions. There's an impressive and well priced wine list.
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Kebabgy
The bestselling novel The Yacoubian Building (by Alaa al-Aswany) has a scene set at this Nileside restaurant when loathsome businessman Hagg Azzam and corrupt politician Kamal el-Fouli strike a dodgy deal - a scene close to reality, for the outdoor terrace here is one of the most popular places for Cairo's political and business elite to meet. The kebabs are particularly good. Go for dinner, when you don't have to see how dirty the Nile is.
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Khan el-Khalil Restaurant & Mahfouz Coffee Shop
After wandering the souq and dealing with its touts rest awhile in the luxurious Moorish-style interiors of this restaurant and adjoining café. The only upmarket restaurant in the area, it serves good, safe Egyptian-Levantine dishes to wealthy Egyptians and foreign tour groups. The café is a perfect if pricey place to enjoy a tea or Stella and sheesha ; it serves mezze and sandwiches. Look for the wooden door onto the lane.
Read more about Khan el-Khalil Restaurant & Mahfouz Coffee Shop
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Koshary El Tahrir
Our independent taste tests confirmed that this place is actually better than Abu Tarek (heresy!). There's a second branch on Sharia Abdel Khalek Sarwat.
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Mahran
Under a tree in an alley off Sharia Mahmoud Bassiouni in Downtown. Women are welcome.
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Papillion
Rapidly acquiring the reputation of being Cairo's second-best Lebanese restaurant (after Sabaya), Papillion offers excellent mezze dishes (try the goat-milk labneh and vine leaf dolma) and delectable grills (we reckon it serves the best shish tawouq in the city). It also home delivers.
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Sabaya
Sabaya is sleek, stylish and utterly seductive. The contemporary Lebanese food could hold its head high in Beirut, the service is impeccable, the wine list is well priced and the surrounds are extremely attractive. The mezze are out of this world, particularly the kibbeh nayye (ground lamb and cracked wheat served raw) and cheese sambousik (pastries). A bottle of Chateau Marquise is a reasonable buy. Highly recommended.
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Samakmak
The noisy Cairo branch of the respected Alexandrian fish restaurant has an extremely odd setting on a paved terrace between two apartment blocks off a busy road. It's worth a visit, though, for its excellent, reasonably priced seafood. Choose what you want from the display and tell the waiters how you want it cooked; it will come to the table accompanied by salads and rice. No alcohol is served.
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Sayed Hanafy
Sayed Hanafy Though relatively new, this tiny place is building a big and well-deserved reputation for its excellent kushari .
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Taboula
The Lebanese food at this basement joint isn't as good as Sabaya's, but the atmosphere is more fun - here it's all big groups of Cairenes celebrating birthdays around giant communal tables, with lots of cocktails to go around. Mezze like the tomiyya (garlic sauce) are your best bet, but skip the meatballs.
