I recently went on a trip to Egypt with my family and had the chance to explore the Egyptian food scene.
*Disclaimer: I don’t remember most of the restaurants I went to. However, most of these items can be found in any restaurant in Egypt.
* This is obviously not all the food I ate while in Egypt, but I didn’t want to include common American items like fried chicken or burgers, especially if I don’t know the restaurant name.
Cairo
Sobhy Kaber: This restaurant was a 10/10. The environment and service was amazing which is why it’s one of the only restaurant names I remember.
Kofta
Kofta is a small lamb/beef sausage. I’ve had it before because it’s a staple in Mediterranean food. It’s good, but the taste and juiciness depends on the restaurant.
Vegetable salad
This is a vegetable medley that is brought as a complimentary appetizer for every single meal along with tahini and pita bread. It contains tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. Some were spicier than others, but all have a balsamic taste.
Stuffed pigeon
This is basically pigeon skin wrapped around seasoned rice. It was pretty good and I think the skin enhanced the flavor, but that’s just a meat lover’s opinion.
Spinach and garlic soup
This is, in my opinion, more of a dip/sauce than a soup. The taste is pretty self explanatory, but it had a slimy consistency, so I wouldn’t eat it on its own.
Cilantro
Lemon and mint smoothie
Lemon mint and hibiscus are the two drinks you are bound to come across if you visit Egypt. It tastes like a green drink, so if those aren’t your thing, I wouldn’t try it. I greatly enjoyed these however. I prefer the smoothie form to the lemon mint juice. You cannot escape this drink if you ever visit Egypt.
Mojito soda
This also tastes just how it sounds. It was a bit too syrupy for me, but it was definitely interesting.
Beef shawarma pizza
Pizza options are insane in Egypt, but this sounded much better than the hot dog pizza option so I got this. It’s pretty good. It’s just a pizza with shawarma, white sauce and/or cheese, bell peppers, and tomatoes. I don’t like bell peppers so I picked them off, but the rest of the pizza was actually good. * Not from Cilantro
Luxor
Al-Sahaby Lane
Camel burger
This tasted like a meatloaf burger and was too dry for my liking. I think sandwiches in Egypt, with the exception of wraps and that bomb falafel sandwich I had, are just too dry for me because this isn’t the first time my sandwich was dry.
Camel tajin
When will I realize that I have already tasted all of the meat textures and flavors that are actually different. Personally, every meat I’ve ever tried tastes like a variation of chicken, turkey, pork, or beef, and I’ve tried alligator, lamb, pigeon, buffalo, and now camel. All of that to say that this was pretty good, but it just tasted like stew meat. However, I love stew meat, so no problems there.
Mashy
This was rice and herbs stuffed in grape leaves. To me it tasted like pasta, but I think the rice was seasoned with italian seasoning or at least the herbs in italian seasoning. The rice was also kind of salty.
Chicken feheera
This was soo good. I’m not sure of the ingredients because it was my Dad’s and I just took a few pieces. It was basically just flatbread pizza with cheese and chicken. I don’t think there was any sauce, just cheese on the inside and outside of the bread. But, tbh, it was one of the best things I ate in Egypt.
Fruit feheera
This was a flatbread topped with honey, fruit, and maybe condensed milk. It was pretty good, but also pretty basic. If you like apples and/or bananas, you would like this.
Porto vigo steak
This wasn’t an Egyptian dish per se, but it was my first time trying it. It was just a fancy crusted, chicken-fried like steak. * Not from Al-Sahaby Lane
Aswan
Nubian dessert
This was a rice pudding that tasted like leftover cereal milk, in a good way. The texture might throw some people off, but I enjoyed it.
Siwa
Siwa macaroni with beef
This was pasta with a spicy sauce. The sauce was similar to the liquid in Egyptian stews. Really good. No notes.
Couscous with beef
This was basically a stew with couscous replacing the liquid. Couscous is a bit bigger than grits, but I would say it’s smaller than rice. In my opinion I think the couscous was unnecessary because most of the flavor was from the vegetables and beef anyways. It wasn’t bad, but I would prefer the tajin to this because they taste virtually the same.
Snacks: These are just some snacks I got in various airports, convenience stores, etc. when traveling
Juice
I just wanted to say how much I loved the juice in Egypt. It was fresh and actually tasted like the fruit it came from. I enjoy most beverages, including the sugar loaded juice here in the US, but it was really refreshing to taste like the original fruit.
Mika mika
These were honey tea cookies. I wouldn’t eat them by themselves, but they weren’t bad.
Elite wafer
These were kind of flavorless, but I love a wafer texture so I didn’t mind.
Basil seed watermelon drink
This was really good. It’s similar to aloe, so if you don’t like that, this drink isn’t for you.
Sugar cane juice
This was so good, but I have no idea how to describe it. It was fully juiced, no chunks. It wasn’t as sweet as you would expect, but still really good. It tasted more like a vegetable juice than fruit juice and was refreshing. The juice was green. I would say it’s sweetness level is similar to apple or cucumber juice, just really light.
Pomegranate schweppes
Everytime I try something pomegranate flavored, it tastes different. This tasted like a milder, less syrupy cherry. The soda part was good, but there was pomegranate pulp which really threw me off.
Basil seed pomegranate drink
Same notes as the watermelon drink, but I liked this better and will be looking for a place to get it in the US. It tasted like a fruit tea that I loved when I was younger. Every pomegranate drink tastes different to me, so I can’t say if it was accurate, but it was enjoyable.
Tomato chips
These tasted just like ketchup. I enjoyed the flavor, but I was done after 5 chips because it was just straight ketchup.
Buzz apple cinnamon
This tastes like apple cider. Pretty standard, but I enjoyed it.
Morobite
This was a chocolate and caramel candy bar. I’ve realized that caramel in Egypt has more of a nougat texture than the caramel in the US. It was good, but I still prefer Twix.
Lemon mint schweppes
This tastes similar to the mojito soda I had. It was more mint forward, but I still enjoyed it.
Strawberry jelly fanta
This actually tasted like strawberry jello and I was very impressed. It’s not too different from the original strawberry fanta, so it might not be worth it to buy it.