Someone said that “to keep your readers, you should keep them happy” so I will try to do exactly that by replying to Siegfried’s request to talk about the Egyptian food.
I have been in the country for more than 3 weeks now and have tried many restaurants. First thing first, the restaurant industry is not extremely developed here. I see the restaurants as basically fitting 3 categories: the fast-food restaurants, the “traditional” restaurants and the high-end restaurants. Some people might find this reductive but sorry, this is my blog. You can also post a comment if you have something to say ;).
For reference, $1=EGP6 and E1=EGP7.
The high end restaurants usually offer European style foods geared toward tourists. The food is usually very good and you can find some places that don’t cost you a limb. You can have a great French dinner for less than EGP100. Something that would be 2 or 3 times more expensive in Paris. but this is still way out of reach for most of the Egyptians so you will not see them there.
The restaurants from the fast food category are not the McDonald’s or KFC or Hardee’s (Carl’s Jr here) that we can also find here. They are kind of expensive for most of the people (around EGP20 for a meal). In place, Egyptians have their own kind of fast foods with some restaurants or food stall busy with long wait from morning till late night. Some of these fast foods serve very distinctive dishes: Kochery, Foul and Taameya. They also serve more usual staples of Middle-Eastern cuisine like Shawerma.
Kochery could have been called the “Egyptian kitchen sink” since it is a mix of things you would not have thought to put together: rice, lentils, macaronis, some spaghettis, some fried onions and sometimes some chick peas covered with tomato sauce. Restaurants are usually specialized and offer different level of qualities based on the amount of good stuff in the plate. I have been eating it several times and I really like it. You would not think that from the list of ingredients but It is quite tasty! It costs from EGP1 to EGP5.
Foul are brown beans that are marinated in a mixture of oil and herbs for quite some time before being cooked. Very very cheap. A large part of the population seems to be surviving from that and bread. It is quite tasty and filling but I would not advise to go on that kind of diet… It costs maybe EGP1-2 for 2 small sandwiches
Well, actually, maybe a Foul diet would be ok if you have to choose between Foul and Taameyyas. Taameyyas is pureed Foul that is then deep fried! You also eat that in a bun bread. Quite tasty too but is it because of the beans or because of all that grease? Same kinds of prices.
In more traditional types of restaurants, you find the stapples of Middle-Eastern cuisine: Tahini, Hummus and Babaghanouj as well as shish and kofta kebabs or shish taouk. The big novelty is the Pigeon that you can find in many restaurants. I don’t know if it is as much appreciated by the Egyptians than Cuy (Guinea Pig) is by the Peruvians but it is everywhere. Maybe it is why you do not see any pigeons in the street of Cairo! Well, at least you do see many cats in the street and thinking about it, it is reassuring 😉 (OK, if you are Egyptian and are reading this, I am joking!). A dinner of a plate of babaghanouj, shish kebab or pigeon and some vegetables will cost you between EGP10 and EGP20.
Finally, you also can find some restaurants that are specialized in Egyptian pizzas and large sweet or salted kind of crepes called Fetir. The Egyptian pizzas I tried with Karim were quite good. It is really different. Nothing spectacular though.
To tell the truth, I am a bit disappointed with the food experience. I have heard many good things about home cooked meals but I did not get the opportunity to try yet so I cannot judge that. The restaurant industry is just underdeveloped here because most of the Egyptians do not have the means to eat out often or at least, not in fancy restaurants. All the travelers I have met that visited the rest of Middle East rave about Jordan and Lebanon. I will report later about that ;).
