The best restaurants Egypt

Timetable

Egyptians eat at all hours and until late at night: you will therefore benefit from a wide range of hours to satisfy yourself, especially as some shops are open 24 hours a day.

Budget & Tips

Restaurants abound in Egypt, from boui-boui to luxury eateries: you'll be spoilt for choice. In general, the cheapest dishes are those based on cooked fava beans: foul or taamiya, a kind of falafel where fava beans replace chickpeas. Foul is the Egyptians' favorite breakfast, according to the following proverb: "Morning foul, king's meal, noon foul, poor man's meal, evening foul, donkey's meal However, for a Westerner, foul is better at midday than at coffee and croissant time!

Another economical and nourishing option: kouchary, a mixture of rice, pasta, lentils and chickpeas, all spiced up with a light tomato sauce and lots of grilled onions. There are three "sizes" of kouchary: small, medium and large. Prices range from LE 1 to LE 2. You can even take this feast away with you.

Sandwich shops are also an excellent option for smaller budgets. Flat, almost round bread rolls(eish shami) are filled with your choice of shakshouka (eggs with tomato), taamiya, foul, kebab, kofta, potatoes, cauliflower fritters, salad, etc. Count on 1 to 1.50 LE, depending on the side dish. There's also chawarma: strips of lamb or chicken (cooked first on a spit) are fried with tomatoes and onions, and a shami is stuffed with the mixture. Again, cheap, fast and therefore practical, but also delicious and fragrant.

Restaurant prices shared in this guide are those of 2023 and are subject to change, as inflation has been particularly high in Egypt in recent years.

What costs extra

Hotels and restaurants add 12% service charge and 10% national tax, or 23.20% on prices, which are always shown net. Municipal taxes of 2% are sometimes added in addition in hotels. Egypt has a significant VAT on manufactured goods. Tipping is a common and even expected practice. 5 to 10 LE are left at the Baladi café, and 10% of the bill at the restaurant.

The local way

There is nothing light about Egyptian cuisine. Every good Egyptian who respects himself likes to have rice and potatoes or rice and pasta or pasta and potatoes in the same meal. French fries definitely go around the world to stop in the land of Ra. The Egyptian will nevertheless start his meal with salad, but will not systematically finish it with a dessert. He does not drink while he eats, but takes a big glass of water to finish and his inevitable tea.

Three meals a day, lots of snacks. This is one of the explanations for the high rate of people who are significantly overweight (30 kg and over): almost 70% of the adult population, or about 56.5 million people.

The breakfast is rather salty, based on eggs, salted cottage cheese, dry cheese, raw vegetable salads, bread, foul (starchy). Lunch is often quick, based on grilled or fried meat, rice or potatoes, few vegetables. The dinner menu is comparable to the lunch menu. The Egyptian taste is very marked by fried or stewed meat in which fat has been added. Desserts are extremely sweet, as are sodas.

To be avoided

If hygiene seems questionable, don't linger in an establishment, you could have serious digestion problems.

Kids

Children are received and cared for in all establishments.

Smokers

In the land of chicha, smokers are kings! Smoking is allowed in bars and restaurants.

Tourist traps

As with everything and everywhere, there are profiteers in the vicinity of tourist sites. Compare the cards and don't hesitate to take a few more steps: sometimes it's a street game!