Cairo
Perhaps Cairo’s best fuul, and worth elevating to dinner status (note the atypical hours). With each plate of beans, you get a spread of salads and fresh…
Must-see restaurants in Cairo
Cairo
This frantically busy fuul and shawarma takeaway joint has a limited menu, but its food is fresh and good. The fuul (fava bean paste) sandwiches are…
Giza
Long a favoured post-Pyramids dining spot, Andrea has moved out to a new hilltop spot in New Giza, where you eat in the garden while overlooking the city…
Giza
Mena House's long-running Indian restaurant specialises in tandoori dishes and mild North Indian–style curries with a good range of vegetarian dishes too…
Cairo
Although we'd prefer a more liberal hand with the spicing, this is probably Cairo's best Indian restaurant. The menu mostly focuses on tandoori, but there…
Cairo
This restaurant is squiggled down a little pedestrian alley. All the staples are here, prepared like an Egyptian mother would make: various stuffed…
Cairo
Young Cairenes tap on their laptops while sipping coffee or munching on pasta, pizza and filling sandwiches, amid creaky wood-floored rooms rimmed by…
Cairo
The Greek Club is a Downtown institution and a popular hangout with liberal Egyptians, artists and foreign residents. A cold beer on the outdoor terrace…
Cairo
Tucked away below street level, Le Bistro is a surprisingly fancy outpost Downtown. The food may not quite match its European ideal, but Cairenes love it,…
Cairo
There’s no menu here, just select your fish from the iced-down display, and then retire to your table to admire the view and tuck into a spread of salads…
Cairo
The atmosphere here is fun – it’s all big groups of Cairenes celebrating birthdays around giant communal tables, with lots of cocktails to go around…
Cairo
This soothing, wood-panelled space is a favourite with wealthy Cairenes. Grilled foods don’t have the proper char, but other preparations, such as whole…
Cairo
Delicious ice cream to cool you down on a hot day. For the young (and young at heart) there are fun flavours like banana milk and butterscotch, while…
Cairo
In an alley off Sharia Al Azhar, this place is legendary for its pigeon, available stuffed or grilled. It doesn’t look like much – just plastic chairs…
Cairo
Roast, stuffed pigeon is the star of the show here – just tell the waiter how many birds you want, and they arrive crisp and hot, along with salad and all…
Cairo
A cafe selling sushi and pasta shouldn't work, right? But Makani does. The sushi, though, is the pick of the menu (which also includes sandwiches), with a…
Cairo
Favoured by families and ladies who lunch, this cafe is a relaxed spot for coffee and cake. The menu is European sandwiches plus salads, omelettes, pasta…
Cairo
Middle Eastern food made the Syrian way. Simply the best place in Heliopolis for shawarma and ta'amiyya (Egyptian variant of falafel). Look for the light…
Cairo
This is our go-to branch of Egypt's favourite fast-food restaurant for shawarma because they always seem to taste better here. It's also usually less…
Cairo
This small high-end supermarket has excellent fresh produce, bakery and deli sections, and stocks plenty of international products. It also makes its own…
Cairo
This narrow restaurant, allegedly the oldest in Cairo, was the favoured drinking spot of the intelligentsia. It's gone to seed somewhat since then, though…
Cairo
Definitely not part of the trendy Zamalek dining scene, this tiny Italian canteen with just a few formica tables has been kicking around for years. It…
Cairo
The snug, white-walled, candlelit restaurant downstairs offers a decent choice of vegetarian pasta dishes including gnocchi with blue cheese and spinach…
Cairo
One of several Sudanese restaurants and cafes in this alley, this is the tidiest and perhaps serves the most delicious dishes. Try salata iswid (‘black…
Cairo
Break the routine of eating heavy Egyptian breakfasts with this quaint bakery, which boasts the best Greek yoghurt bar in the neighbourhood. Pick out your…
Cairo
This fluorescent-lit place has all the ambience of a car showroom, but it does have great authentic Yemeni dishes, served without cutlery, and huge rounds…
Cairo
Mince feeds big appetites with loaded nachos, crunchy onion rings, melt-in-your-mouth burgers and frothy milkshakes. It's a favourite after-class hangout…
Cairo
Start with terrine de foie gras as you peer at the Pyramids from the 41st floor. By the time your filet d’agneau with tomato confit and a sweet garlic…
Cairo
Maadi locals worship it, but even other Cairenes have yet to discover this hidden boutique restaurant. Villa Belle Epoque is an elegant eatery that will…
Cairo
In France, Paul is just a roadside place to pick up a croissant and coffee, but in the Middle East it serves as a more upscale bistro. Cairo isn’t big on…
Cairo
If you’re just passing through Cairo Gateway bus station and need a meal, take a short walk to Hamada for exceptionally good kushari (mix of noodles, rice…
Cairo
You're here for the view more than the food. Eating on the terrace with the expansive lush greenery of Al Azhar Park spread out below you with the…
Cairo
This good ta’amiyya (Egyptian variant of falafel), fuul (fava bean paste) and salad place has been around for nearly a century. You can eat at pavement…
Cairo
Handily placed for dinner when you're drinking at El Horreya (you can bring food into the bar), with all the shawarma and ta'amiyya sandwiches you need.
Cairo
The relaxing setting beside Al Azhar Park's little lake is a bonus though the surly staff and so-so dishes are a bit of a downer. The simple, typical…
Cairo
For when you need to fuel up on shawarma or fuul after exploring Khan Al Khalili, this forever busy branch of Gad serves up solid Egyptian fast food…
Cairo
All the cheap and filling shawarma and ta'amiyya dishes you need from this branch of the Downtown fast-food experts.
Cairo
Blocks-long fruit-and-veg market, open late. There's a good dairy store at the corner with Talaat Harb selling fresh cheese.
