Foods of Cairo’s Backstreets
Of all the countries I visited thus far, Egypt has frustrated me the most as a traveler. Even though Egypt is considered a safe country and the most visited country in Africa, the country is not precisely tourist-friendly, particularly for independent travelers. Most visitors opted to experience a series of day tours because of many restrictions and unfortunate nuisances. All these day tours follow a relatively set schedule: pick up at 9 am. and drop off just before sunset and in time for dinner. While that may sound like efficient sightseeing, in all honesty, there are relatively few things to do after dark.
The popularity of crispy snacks is universal around the world.
Our short stay in Cairo, Egypt’s cosmopolitan capital, seems like the best time to escape the rigidity of guided day tours. I thought booking an evening food tour would be nice. This would be a great use of our evening and a wonderful introduction. Our first day in Cairo was exhausting. After a late start on our first day, we had a whirlwind tour through Islamic Cairo. We just wanted to chill by the hotel pool when we returned to central Cairo before sunset. Three-hour food tours sounded tiring.
Interestingly, there were very few evening tours available in Cairo, let alone a food tour. We were lucky to score one of the last spots on a food tour on Airbnb. I did not even realize Airbnb Experience was a thing until very recently. I met a fellow American traveler in Morocco last year, and she told me how she relies on the Airbnb Experience in her jet-setting lifestyle. This would be our first time giving it a try. With a 4.95/5.00 rating, the food tour was a great bargain for $35 a person compared to other options. According to the tour description, we could try about two dozen dishes on the tour.
Cairo of the beaten tracks.
The tour’s meeting point was in front of the GoBus Office on the famous Tahrir Square. Our tour guide, Magy, is an energetic young lady, and the group includes three other groups of Americans. Among them was a family from Virginia. The dad is a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) for the State Department, and the mom works with the United Nations. They have been stationed in Uzbekistan and living the life Brian and I could only dream of. I wanted their contact information for advice on a future trip to Central Asia. Also in the group are a father-and-daughter duo from New York.
After gathering the group, we took a shuttle van to El-Tahrir City, an outer district of Cairo on the west bank of the Niles. This part of the city is far from the tourist trail. It may be quite a bit away from the downtown, but it is far from desolate. The area reminds me of the night markets I am used to in Taiwan. The place was humming with families and young couples out strolling their neighborhood. It seemed a lot busier than the streets of downtown Cairo at this time of the day. Needless to say, we stood out from the crowd like a sore thumb.
Breakfast Time
Magy’s food tour is structured by meals a typical middle-class Egyptian would have throughout the day. The tour program gave us a good understanding of the daily habits of many Egyptians. Along the way, Magy encouraged us to ask many questions, whether food-related or not. Having spent the day exploring Cairo with a guide earlier, I did not let the opportunity be wasted. Just between where we exited the van and our first food stop, I already got many questions answered, including the ‘mysterious’ Hindu–Arabic numeral system all over the market.
The giant idra is used to cook large batches of fava beans.
Our first stop was Al-Shabrawy Restaurant, a little stall specializing in fava beans and eggplants. Magy described the place as a restaurant specializing in breakfast dishes. Compared to Western culture, Egyptians consider breakfast a significant meal, consisting almost entirely of warm dishes. To some, it may be odd that a breakfast place was open in the early evening. However, many cultures embrace the “breakfast all day” concept, and we saw patrons coming in steadily during our visit. Magy ordered about eight of the most popular dishes for the group.
Fava beans are the undisputed star ingredient on the breakfast table. Called fūl in Egyptian Marsi, fava beans are the diet staple. And like all stables, there are hundreds of ways to cook fava beans. The most famous dish is ful medames, mashed fava bean cooked in oil, salt, and cumin. The dish is most commonly served at breakfast, and it was kind of like an Egyptian version of hummus. The beans are traditionally cooked in specialty cookware called idra, which has a tapered neck suitable for constant mixing. The giant idra in the shop demonstrates a unique way of cooking large batches of fava beans.
Fresh made falafel is hard to resist.
Visually, full medames do not look exactly appetizing. The purplish-gray mesh was far from my favorite, which was unexpected because I am genuinely fond of fava beans. Brian, on the other hand, found the mashed fava beans scrumptious. For the rest of the trips, I had to be content with seeing this dish at every breakfast buffet. Thankfully, my disappointment was more than made by Egypt’s falafel. Unlike elsewhere in the Middle East, falafels in Egypt are made of fava beans instead of chickpeas. The texture of Egyptian falafels is a lot fluffier than any other we tasted. So you can imagine my surprise when I learned that falafel was Egyptian. Wouldn’t you think this original version would be more popular?
The Egyptian falafel tastes superior because of the use of fava beans.
Fava bean aside, another popular ingredient here is eggplants. An ingredient common to the region, eggplants are most commonly used for baba ghanoush. Spiced with cummin and tahini, the spread here was similar to the kind we got back home. But our favorite was the spicy eggplants, which were surprisingly spicy, especially by American standards. It is wild that Egyptians would watch such spicy dishes for breakfast. It was saucy enough to soak up with a piece of aish baladi, the ubiquitous Egyptian flatbread.
Aish baladi, the preeminent bread of Egypt.
Besides fava beans, eggplant is perhaps the most celebrated ingredient here.
The spicy eggplants were delightful.
For many of us, our favorite dishes were the cheesy potato, stewed fava beans, and dip made of the Egypytian Domiati cheese. Days later, I was trying to think of what was missing in this Egyptian breakfast experience. I think it was the absence of the crispy texture that most Americans like. Instead of aish baladi, getting some crispier bread or pastries for all the dips would be great. Sure enough, we soon passed by a roadside bakery specialed in feteer meshaltet. This flakey layered pastry consists of numerous layers of thine dough with ghee layered in between. It packs a lot of calories into every single bite. Just like croissants and scallion pancakes, they are sinfully delicious. The bakers certainly knew how to put on a show.
The making of feteer meshaltet.
I immediately regretted having a late lunch with such a substantial feast already in the belly. In the pre-tour instruction, Magy warned us that there would be a lot of food and recommended we have only a light lunch on an earlier side. Of course, Brian and I had a giant meal just four hours before this food tour. If the breakfast was that substantial, I was a little nervous about whether we could digest lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and dessert!
Lunch Time
Leaving breakfast behind, we were ready to tackle lunch. But before that, we stopped at one of the roadside bakeries down the street. As mentioned above, aish baladi was the standard and popular bread on the Egyptian table. However, that doesn’t mean the locals aren’t fond of many available bread options. Like kids in the candy shop, we could point at items we are interested in and have a try. The most eye-catching offerings were shelves of crispy breadsticks. They reminded me of the sesame sticks we saw in the Turkish bakery back home. However, I must admit that Brian and I were salivating over the Western-style pastries, like chocolate-covered doughnuts.
Seasame breadstick, anyone?
For all Egyptians, lunch is the most significant meal of the day. According to Magy, most would return home for lunch in the middle of the work day. Naturally, the responsibility of preparing the main meal falls on women. I personally had a hard time imagining people dashing back home through Cairo’s notorious traffic. A few days later, we confirmed this with our travel guide, Adel. He was even more extreme than most. He would go home for a home-cooked meal every day when not leading tours. He would usually skip dinner or have a small snack at most.
Racks of Western-style patisserie.
Racks of Western-style patisserie.
Because the breakfast was already substantial, typical lunchtime here is between two and three o’clock. After our twelve-day trip, I confirm that this is true. We found late lunch quite frustrating, especially on guided tours. We often found ourselves starving until three or four o’clock. Lunch was often the last activity of the day before transport back to the hotel. After the amount of food we were fed at lunch each day, a siesta seemed warranted.
After a short stroll through a quiet residential neighborhood, we arrived at Abdul Salam Al-Kababji Restaurant. This barbeque restaurant had half-butchered animal carcasses hanging at the front. It was clear this would be the main meal of the day. Sitting along a long table, Magy ordered six entree dishes and numerous simple mezze. As much as I enjoyed the breakfast dishes, most could be considered pan-Arabic appetizers. I was looking forward to Egypt’s take on meat and rice dishes. Thanksfully, it was not just a derivative of shawarma or doner kebab.
This plate of mombar was a pleasant surprise to most of us.
I was happy to discover many dishes I had never had before. The first dish was mombar, also known as the Alexandrian sausage. This is typically a pan-Arabic dish, but mombar is particularly popular in Egypt. A beef, garlic, coriander, and rice mixture is stuffed inside a fresh sheep's intestine. Many Egyptians consider this equally a rice and meat dish. Traditionally, this humble dish is associated with religious festivities. When an animal is slaughtered for religious reasons, every bit of the animal is utilized. Preparing the fresh intestine was labor intensive and reminded many Egyptians of holidays. I have tasted plenty of sausages, but none tasted as fresh and artisanal as this one. The casing was so thin and delicate; I was surprised Brian was brave enough to have a bite.
Also on the table are a few more familiar dishes, such as mahshi, the Egyptian version of dolma, and shakshouka, the stewed tomato with eggs. Brian’s personal favorite was roz maamar. At first, the dish resembles a Chicago deep-dish pizza. Baked in a clay pot called bram, this iconic rice dish contains plenty of creams, ghee, and fresh tomato sauce. As simple as the ingredients are, I find it difficult to describe the flavor profile. It tasted like a mixture of lasagna and risotto, and I am surprised you don’t see this dish more often.
This dish was very similar to a Chinese dish.
Roz maamar, the Egyptian baked rice.
Among all the entrees, my most memorable dish was molokhiyya, a soup of ancient heritage. The main ingredient of the soup is the leaf of the jute plant. It has a subtle flavor that I have never tasted before. The soup has a sticky and slimy texture similar to okra. The leaves are typically dried and then chopped using a unique curved cleaver. The soup is cooked with plenty of garlic and coriander. Even though the raw jute leaf tastes bitter, the flavor profile is surprisingly mild and homey. This may be the tastiest vegetable soup I have ever had.
By the time we finished our “lunch,” most of us were stuffed. Inevitably, we asked Magy how much more food was still ahead. Shockingly, she said about a dozen dishes were still left in the evening. As it happened, this was everybody’s first evening in Cairo, and we were all thoroughly exhausted. The family from Virginia has been up since five in the morning for their flight from Sharm El-Sheikh. The kids were miserable and barely awake at the lunch table. I was not sure whether they enjoyed the experience.
The juice stand always draws a crowd.
Like elsewhere in the Islamic world, the most popular social spot in a city would be one of the numerous juice shops. Since Islam prohibits the consumption of alcohol, freshly squeezed juices (or other overly sweetened drinks) are the drinks of choice on social occasions. Naturally, a stop at the juice stand is obligatory on this food tour. I was keen to discover some unusual flavor combinations, of course. Imagine my disappointment when I realized that the most popular flavors here are all the common fruit in the United States: lime, apple, orange, and mango. I ordered the most exotic juice I could find: strawberry with mint. It was indeed excellent. Similarly, the ice cream flavors on offer were uninspiring.
Dinner Time
On our way to the next food stop, the family from Virginia was asking Magy just how much longer the tour would be. I was wondering whether they might bail early. Fortunately, they did not miss the next stop, Koshari Al Zaeem - Talaat Harb. This place serves perhaps Egypt’s most iconic dish: Koshary. Before our visit, I read up about Egyptian food and was broadly familiar with the basics of koshary. The dish comprises macaroni, rice, vermicelli, lintels, and chickpeas. Before it was served, a zesty tomato sauce was poured and topped with crispy onions, vinegar, and optional chili sauce. The dish seemed very strange on the conceptual level, so I was apprehensive.
According to most, koshary is Egypt’s national dish.
According to both Magy and Adel, koshary is the dish few housewives are bothered to cook. Because there are so many different components, this humble dish would take too long to prepare. Adel told us koshary is the only reason he would ever eat out voluntarily. When they surveyed restaurants, many turned out to be kosher shops. There are just two dishes on the menu: traditional koshary and an updated version with cheese and olives. That makes ordering very easy for first-time visitors.
I had the honor of mixing up the koshary for the table. The dish looks very messy and confusing. The appearance invokes the infamous ‘garbage plate’ at Rochester’s Nick Tahou Hots. I was pretty scared by the look of the dish. Even though the dish is relatively carb-heavy, it is traditionally vegan and surprisingly healthy and refreshing. Since Brian has been on a health cleanse over the past year, I suspect koshary would be up his alley. Much to my surprise, I found koshary rather pleasant. It was not among the tastiest food I tried. Based on everyone’s reactions, I suspect I was not alone. Most of us ended up preferring the modern version of koshary. This version of the dish was like a mashup of pizza and lasagna. It is true that things always taste better with cheese.
All of us were all tired at this point of the tour.
The cheesy Koshary was our favorite.
Because Egyptians tend to have their lunch very late, dinner is not considered a crucial meal. And in its place is the proliferation of evening snack foods. The penultimate of our last stops this evening was a roadside stand specializing in liver sandwiches, Kebda Eskandarany. A specialty of Alexandria, this legendary sandwich is as ubiquitous as hot dogs in America. The liver is served in Eish Fino, a delicious, baguette-shaped bun. Among all the offal, liver and gizzards are not my favorite cuts of meat; the metallic taste was particularly offputting to me. However, I was glad I gave them a try. Plenty of garlic, cumin, and coriander is mixed in with the liver. This may be my best-tasting liver, but I doubt I would order it in the future.
Kebda Eskandarany, the Egyptian liver sandwich.
Our last stop of the evening was a dessert shop. I have always enjoyed Middle Eastern sweets back home. Generally, they tend to be very sweet. But compared to Western desserts, the sweetness of Middle Eastern sweet comes from honey, which makes them seem a little healthier. By the time we arrived, we were all completely stuffed and tired. I admit we all started to pay less attention to Magy. We indeed lost track of the dozens of sweets on offer. The only item I remember was Mango Supreme, which is eerily similar to a cake of the same name from the Filipino bakery chain Red Ribbon.
Egyptian sweets are very “sweet’”
Western desserts remain very popular in Egypt.
As good as Magy’s food tour was, all of us were ready to get back to the hotel. I honestly felt terrible for Magy. We had to remind her not to take it personally. She was terrified that we would leave a negative review on Airbnb. It made me aware of how powerful these online platforms are. The family from Virginia left before our dessert stop. Magy was terrified that her impeccable rating would be ruined. This reminded all of us of the vulnerability of being part of the gig economy. Overall, we had a wonderful time with Mary, and I will recommend her tour without hesitation to any first-time visitors to Egypt,
