Downtown Cairo, Where the Story of Cairo Comes to Life
From left Chef Mostafa Seif, Sherif Tamim, Karim El Hayawan
Written by Alya Sorour
To eat around Cairo is to know Cairo.
When architect Karim El Hayawan and I were asked to curate the map of downtown Cairo’s culinary gems for Cairo Food Week (CFW), the initial idea was to design a short food walk and a guide in six stops or less.
From our first trial walk, it was evident that so much of West El Balad happens in its cafes, bars, sidewalks and around run-down tables that have bore witness to countless stories over the years. Near the first stop on our list, we stood in front of a plaque that was hanging outside a building on Mazloum St.: ‘The Actor Stephan Rosty lived here’. We met a shop owner who told us that the building was built in 1961 by legendary actor Anwar Wagdy. The butcher whose shop is in the same building instantly joined in, telling us how his father before him cut Wagdy’s meat and what the actor liked to eat.
By the time we ended our walk, there were a dozen of those encounters. If we wanted to map food in the historic center of the city we had to map the stories too; they were intricately connected in capturing the essence of contemporary Cairo.
One of my favorite moments came during the walk itself, after the map design had been submitted. Our first featured stop, ‘El Gomhoreya’ roasterie, known for its stuffed pigeon, refused to let us walk in with our 20 guests. A few tempered back and forths later, we found ourselves hungry and agitated on a sidewalk on Hoda Shaarawi St.. A block down, we came across a hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop called Kiosk Sameh, where the menu is bespoke: it caters each sandwich to the customer’s favorite flavor profiles, and the most appealing sandwiches make it to the wall where a permanent menu resides.
It was there that I realized there is no telling of Cairo’s food or famous eateries without the stories of the people who’ve walked its streets and savoured its food for decades.
A culinary map of West El Balad, this guidebook serves you with the neighborhood’s essential must-try places that, to us, make up the flavor of Cairo. The map reads like a guided walk from one point to another, tracing both stories and dishes. You can read through it or walk it in order or find the story that corresponds to your preferred place.
Architect Karim El Hayawan, curator of ‘Map in the Making’ Downtown Cairo Walk
Flavors of Downtown Cairo: The Quintessential Eating Guide
‘’What does Cairo taste like?‘’
Just like Egypt’s rich history, downtown Cairo is a true melting pot of rich and aromatic flavors. No place captures the taste of the contemporary Cairene experience like downtown Cairo.
If the streets could speak, here in downtown Cairo, better known as West El Balad, we’d experience food through storytelling, and tell stories through food. Every dish has a story, and every story inevitably has a drink or dish at its center. Eating your way through the neighborhood leaves you with a fuller belly and a much fuller grasp of Cairo’s beating heart.
From early morning sugar rush at L’Americaine coffee house to the midday hearty fuel of Abou Tarek’s famous koshari, trying one (or some) of the neighborhood’s rich menu offerings is a gateway to the underbelly of Cairo.
Cafés for the cultural intelligentsia of the 1920s and 1960s such as Café Riche and Al Horreya remain landmarks of the many histories they’ve witnessed. Café Riche on Talaat Harb St. was once where the Egyptian resistance planned the 1919 revolution against the British colonial rule, where former president Gamal Abdel Nasser frequently met his peers before the 1952 coup, and where protestors during the 2011 revolution gathered and found shelter. Naguib Mahfouz, who was a regular patron, based his novel Karnak Café on its history. Hot oriental mezzes over black coffee or cold beer amidst mementos of the cafe’s heyday make the classic Café Riche experience.
“I realized there is no telling of Cairo’s food or famous eateries without the stories of the people who’ve walked its streets and savoured its food for decades.”
- Alya Sorour, founder of ThatReallyCoolStudio
Across the street, in the contrasting quiet of a passageway that connects to Kasr El Nil St. stands Estoril restaurant and bar, a weekend favorite since the late 1960s that still boasts arguably one of Cairo’s best tomeya (garlic paste).
In Talaat Harb Square, the infamous patisserie Groppi and The Greek Club restaurant: Both previously-owned by Swiss and Greek families respectively, these eateries which offer French and Mediterranean menus have become timeless monuments of West El Balad. Few stories and histories of the neighborhood miss a mention of Groppi. Once renowned for its chocolate confectionery, Groppi is today a social and cultural landmark that witnessed a half-century of socio-political changes.
The Talaat Harb flagship store is temporarily closed but breakfasts in the Groppi Gardens on Abdel Khalek Tharwat St. are the perfect escape from the busy urban landscape. At The Greek Club, the sound of bowls of a creamy tarama and cold beers slamming on the table cook the perfect Cairene Thursday night.
Around the corner on Kasr El Nil St., Le Grillon is known to have been the hangout spot before and in between Um Kalthoum’s performances in the nearby Kasr El Nil theater. Legend has it that singer Mohamed Abdel Wahab would wash his fruit at the table over a water basin before eating them. It is also where famed actor Fareed El Atrash had a heart attack before being rushed to the hospital.
Local bars and eateries (known as baladi bars) such as Lotus, Stella and Odeon, render the Talaat Harb area a vibrant and popular social space for Cairo’s youth till today. Cold Stella beers and shared bowls of roasted peanuts make the perfect recipe for a night of heated conversation; at Al Horreya, Turkish coffee and apple shisha over a bowl of termes (lupins). The recently-renovated Carol Bar on Kasr El Nil St. steadily attracts Cairo’s creative youth with its upgraded menu of homemade mezze and nighttime jazzy atmosphere.
An array of street food stands and household outlets offering classic Egyptian dishes are lunchtime staples at most West El Balad workspaces.
Kazaz’s stuffed ta’meya sandwiches and creamy lentil soup or Saad El Haramy’s spicy Alexandrian-style ful and banquet of sides are popular favorites amongst fast food.
Alfi Bek’s family-run restaurant since the late 1930s on Alfi St. promises West El Balad’s juiciest kebab and kofta meals. Mama Dahab’s one-person stand, hidden away in the iconic After Eight alleyway on Kasr El Nil St., is worth the lengthy wait for mouthwatering liver sandwiches and home fries.
Felfela on Hoda Shaarawi St. is a quiet getaway from the midday bustle, with a cozy seating area and colorful fish tanks on display. A go-to for a classic menu of Egyptian dishes and a notably famous pickled aubergine.
For a tried and true Egyptian feast, one turns to El Gomhoreya restaurant, conspicuously hidden amidst Haussmannian ornament and Art Deco buildings. A feast of their speciality stuffed pigeon: perfectly hearty, fatty and salty to create a finger licking umami and tap-your-belly-after-a-meal kind of pleasure.
Around the corner at the intersection of Falaki St. and the iconic antique-dealing street Hoda Shaarawi, Fasahet Somaya is said to be the first home-cooked food restaurant in the neighborhood. With a cozy open kitchen layout, guests enjoy Somaya’s changing menus of Egyptian favorites. From her irresistible stuffed vine leaves and vegetables (or mahshi) to customer favorite molokheya with fried chicken and vermicelli rice meal.
Unique only to Egyptian cuisine, a big bowl of koshari from Abou Tarek on Champollion St.. Specialized in this local signature dish, Abou Tarek concocts up the perfect ratio of rice to lentil to pasta topped with the crunchiest fried onions, drizzled with a tangy, spicy tomato sauce.
Everyday life for neighborhood locals happens in the bustle of pedestrian alleys and passageways unique to West El Balad. Overlooking the abandoned Said Halim Palace, a collection of street cafes with colorful plastic chairs sprawl across the neighborhood’s art hub in Al Nabrawi Passageway: home to Rawabet Theatre and Access Artspace (formerly Townhouse Gallery), this lively cluster of scents and sounds is where you’ll likely bump into contemporary artists (like neighboring local Hoda Lutfi) lost in conversation over sweet black tea and a shisha.
Newer eateries such as Eish + Malh on Adly St. by Kodak Passageway and CaiRoma by Youssef El Gendi Passageway expand the neighborhood’s palate all whilst retaining its family-led, community-grown charm. Oven baked pizzas as well as gelatos make for a delicious post-stroll meal.
For dessert, ice cream or a slice of cream konafa, visit El Abd Patisserie on Sherif Basha St.. For fresh fruit juice stop by one of the many branches of Sindbad.
Food is both a mirror and a conduit of our cultural heritage. How and what we eat says alot about who we are and where we come from. Downtown Cairo’s culinary tour is where the story of Cairo comes to life.
