Restaurants in Nile Valley
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Salahadeen
Salahadeen offers a set menu of Egyptian dishes, served as if it were an Egyptian home – knives and forks are offered but guests are encouraged to eat in the Egyptian way by dipping bread in the various dishes. There are two choices, the ‘platter’ (E£85), which includes three courses with14 dishes of fresh home-cooked food to share, or the ‘Feast’ (E£125) with five courses including 25 different dishes. Most dishes consist of vegetables, and the vegetarian options are not cooked in a meat broth as in so many other places. The bar opens for pre-dinner drinks at 6pm, and alcohol is available in the restaurant, too.
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Sofra
Sofra remains our favourite restaurant in Luxor. Located in a 1930s house, away from all the tourist tat, it is as Egyptian as can be, in menu and decor, and even in price. The ground floor has three private dining rooms and a salon, giving the feeling of being in someone’s home. There is also a wonderful rooftop terrace, which is also a cafe, where you can come for a drink. The house is filled with antique oriental furniture, chandeliers and traditional decorations, all simple but cosy and very tasteful. The menu is large, featuring all the traditional Egyptian dishes, such as stuffed pigeon and excellent duck, as well as a large selection of salads, dips (E£4) and mezze…
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Chef Khalil
Popular fish restaurant, just along from the train station, serving very fresh fish from Lake Nasser and the Red Sea, charged by weight, grilled, baked or fried to your choice and served with salad and rice or French fries. It’s a small place, but worth the wait if it’s full.
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Panorama
With its pleasant Nileside terrace, this is a great place to chill and sip a herbal tea or fresh juice. It also serves simple Egyptian stews cooked in clay pots, with salad, mezze and rice or chips, or an all-day breakfast.
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Oasis Café
Set in a renovated 1930s building right in the centre of town, the Oasis is a good place to recover from the bustle of Luxor town, from the heat or from sightseeing. The dining rooms are cool with fans, high ceilings and old tiled floors, painted in soft colours with local artwork on the walls, and furnished with traditional-style furniture. With jazz softly playing, smoking and nonsmoking rooms, the New Yorker to read and friendly staff, this is the perfect place for lunch, to linger over a good morning latte or to spend the afternoon reading. The place is very Western, but in a nice way like your favourite cafe back home. The food is good too, with an extensive brunch m…
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Jamboree Restaurant
A small British-run restaurant, Jamboree serves international fare in its small, rather undistinct dining room or much better, upstairs on a pleasant roof terrace. Lunchtime dishes are limited to good homemade sandwiches and snacks. The menu includes filled jacket potatoes, pastas and the traditional, perhaps not so authentic, Egyptian dishes.
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Salah Ad-Din
This is the best of the Nileside restaurants, with several terraces and a freezing air-conditioned dining room. The menu has Egyptian, Nubian and international dishes, a notch better than most restaurants in Aswan. The service is efficient and the beers are cool (E£12). There is also a terrace to smoke a sheesha.
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Snobs
Popular and well-managed Western-style restaurant that has gained an excellent reputation for its great salads, pastas, pizzas and steaks, cooked by a young and talented chef. There is no alcohol but you are welcome to bring your own discreetly.
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Al-Masry Restaurant
Popular with meat-eating local families, Al-Masry is famous for its excellent fresh kebabs and kofta, as well as pigeon and chicken, all served with bread, salad and tahini.
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Grand Restaurant & Café
A favourite with tour groups, the Grand has a pleasant terrace for mezze and sheesha. It's located just off Sharia Khalid ibn al-Walid.
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Restaurant Mohammed
With an outdoor terrace and laid-back atmosphere, Mohammed’s is the perfect place to recharge batteries in the middle of a day exploring temples and tombs, or to linger in the evening. This is a family affair, the restaurant being attached to the owner’s mudbrick house; the charming Mohammed Abdel Lahi serves with his son Azab, while his wife cooks. The menu is small but includes meat grills, delicious chicken and duck as well as stuffed pigeon, served with fries and excellent simple salads. Stella beer is available (E£10) and Egyptian wine. They can organise a picnic in the desert or on a felucca upon demand. Call ahead.
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Jewel of the Nile
Laura and Mahmud offer traditional Egyptian food using organic vegetables from their own farm, as well as well-prepared British food for homesick Brits including steaks, cottage pie, apple crumble and an all-day English breakfast (E£25). On Sundays a traditional lunch is served all day with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (E£50), and on Saturdays and Wednesdays at 5.30pm there is a popular quiz night in aid of local charities. The menu features a good selection of vegetarian dishes. You can dine in the small outside sitting area or the air-conditioned interior dining room. Alcohol available.
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A Taste of India
A small British-run Indian restaurant in neutral colours with plain wooden tables and chairs. On the menu are European versions of Indian dishes such as korma, masala sag (spinach) and jalfrezi (marinated meat curry with tomato, pepper and onion) dishes, as well as original Indian specials such as madras and vindaloo curries. For those not too fond of spice, a few international, read British, dishes such as steak and chips are available. The place is popular with expat Brits and vegetarians who come for spicy vegetable dishes.
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1886 Restaurant
The 1886 is the gourmet restaurant in town, serving inventive Mediterranean-French food and a few Egyptian dishes with a twist, in a grand old-style dining room with very formal waiters. Guests are expected to dress up for the occasion – men wear a tie and/or jacket (some are available for borrowing) – and the food is superb and light. Delicacies include risotto of crayfish, truffle and chanterelles, sea scallops in artichoke broth and potato and celery ravioli. A grand evening out!
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Aux Trois Chacals
Almost invisible from the main road that leads to the Colossi is this small French family-run restaurant serving home cooking in the garden or on the beautiful rooftop terrace. This is a cosy place to pass a few hours or to have lunch with sandwiches (E£16), salads (E£15) or a good grill, not to mention the tasty couscous. No alcohol but it’s probably the only place on the West Bank where you can get a Lavazza espresso. Dinner should be booked in advance.
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New Mish Mish
The long-standing budget-traveller haunt, Mish Mish, has been upgraded with a swish contemporary and air-conditioned fast-food-style interior, serving good sandwiches (E£5 to E£12), salads (E£3 to E£10) and grilled meats (E£20 to E£25) including shwarma, mixed grill and stuffed pigeon, and good grilled and fried fish dishes (E£22 to E£30). There’s no alcohol, but there is a selection of fresh fruit juices (E£4).
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Tutankhamun Restaurant
This top-floor restaurant was the first one here on the riverside just south of the local ferry dock and it’s still going strong. Hagg Mahmoud was a former cook at one of the French archaeological missions, and he and his sons are still cooking excellent tagen s , duck à l’orange, chicken with rosemary and other good dishes. The food is served on the great rooftop terrace with views of the Nile. Very good vegetarian dishes.
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Nubian House
This laid-back Nubian café and restaurant is the place to be at sunset, with spectacular views over the First Cataract. Sit on traditional wooden benches on the huge shady terrace for a mint tea and sheesha (water pipe). To get here, follow the road past the Nubia Museum for about 1km (15 minutes' walk). Take a right just past a development of upmarket housing (many still under construction), or take a taxi after dark.
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As-Sahaby Lane
Great easygoing alfresco restaurant in the lane running between the souq and the street to Karnak Temple. Fresh and well-prepared Egyptian dishes like tagens (stews cooked in earthenware pots) are served as well as good pizzas and salads. The young staff is very friendly, always ready to help or up for a chat. This terrace is a great place to watch the world go by, or relax from shopping in the souq.
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La Mama
The Italian restaurant on the terrace overlooking a little pond with wading birds, at the entrance to the Sheraton, is a good bet, particularly if you’ve got kids in tow. This is an Italian restaurant in 1970s style with red-and-white napkins, live Neapolitan music and a good selection of pizzas, pastas and mains, all served in clean five-star surroundings.
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Maxime
This French-Egyptian run restaurant consistently serves good French bistro classics, with steaks that melt in your mouth. Vegetarian options are plentiful, and the place is popular with families with plenty of options for the little ones. The restaurant is on the 1st and 2nd floors, and the only drawback is that the decor is as bland as the building. No alcohol.
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Memnon
Excellent, laid-back restaurant with simple but very well-prepared Egyptian fare, and if you want a change from that, there are some equally good Indian and Chinese dishes on the menu. Afterwards hang out and stare eternity in the face looking at the Colossi, while smoking a sheesha. Leave some space for the homemade mango sorbet, it’s worth it.
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1902 Restaurant
Considered Aswan's finest restaurant, and certainly its most formal, this beautifully restored Moorish-style hall is definitely a treat. Dinner is a set four-course French-influenced menu, with a performance by local musicians. Unfortunately here, too, the food doesn't live up to the grandeur of the surroundings at all. Book ahead to reserve a table.
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Nubian Beach
Wonderful Nubian cafe-restaurant set in a quiet garden on the west bank of the Nile, against the backdrop of a towering sand dune. During the heat of the day or on cold winter nights, there is a beautifully painted room indoors. The food is simple but good, and alcohol is served – sometimes with live Nubian music.
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Banana Island Restaurant
The main restaurant of the Aton Hotel is year-round dependable for friendly service and good Egyptian cuisine, from lentil soup and grills to hot bread-and-milk pudding. Alcohol is served. If the weather is good, the outdoor terrace grill makes a good alternative, though not everyone will enjoy the widescreen TV.
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