The best things to eat and drink in Egypt

Modern Egyptian cuisine includes dishes that date back thousands of years to the time of the pharaohs, such as the green soup molokhiyya and hamam mahshi (stuffed pigeon). Bread was a daily staple in the Pharaonic era and remains so today. The Egyptian Arabic word for bread, aish, means “to live” and the local, round flatbread aish baladi is an essential accompaniment or container for a variety of meals.

Egyptian food also reflects the country’s geographical location – North African, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern – as well as the influences of various civilizations, including Greek, Roman, Arab, Ottoman and French. For example, macarona béchamel is an adaptation of the Greek pastitsio, a baked pasta dish with ground meat and béchamel sauce. The popular street food shawarma, meat cooked on a vertical spit, has its origins in the Ottoman Empire and subsequently the Levant.

Despite these influences, Egyptians have been able to hold on to their own culinary traditions and what they consider akl beety (homemade food). One such tradition is cooking with samna baladi, a clear golden liquid similar to ghee made by melting butter until the milk solids separate.

Rural communities along the Nile Valley and Delta prefer cooking with it instead of vegetable oils due to its distinct and rich flavor. It is used in everything from the ta’leya, a sautéed mixture of garlic and ground coriander added to molokhiyya, to the buttery layers in the Egyptian flaky pastry feteer.

In addition to taste, practical considerations also come into play. National dishes, such as fuul and ta’amiyya made from fava beans, as well as kushari – a mix of rice, lentils, pasta, and tomato sauce – serve as cheap and satisfying sustenance for the masses.

Grab a fuul or ta’amiyya sandwich

Where there is fuul, there is ta’amiyya. Fuul medames (mashed fava beans) and ta’amiyya (deep-fried patties made out of fava beans) are considered breakfast foods but can be consumed at any time of day. Fuul is traditionally stewed and served out of a large metal jug called a qedra. 

Ta’amiyya is the Egyptian version of falafel, which is made from chickpeas. The secret to tasty fuul and ta’amiyya sandwiches is adding the right stuff, such as olive oil, cumin, garlic, parsley and lemon juice for fuul, and tahini and chopped salad for ta’amiyya. The Alexandrian version of fuul usually adds chopped peppers, onions and tomatoes. For a spicy kick, ask for chili pepper.

Where to try it: Mahrous in Garden City has been around for around 70 years, according to the grandson of its founder, who personally serves up its specialties and rattles off the menu verbally. For a more modern take, try ta’amiyya tossed with harissa raisin hot sauce at Zööba.

Experience the viscous nature of molokhiyya

Molokhiyya, a bright green soup made from broth and finely chopped jute leaves, has a glutinous consistency and some might even call it slimy. Nevertheless, it is a highly nutritious and beloved meal in Egyptian households.

It is traditionally eaten with rice and chicken or rabbit. In Alexandria and some coastal cities, it is cooked with shrimp. The ta’leya or tasha – garlic and coriander fried in oil or samna – is added into the soup as a last step before serving.

Where to try it: Sobhy Kaber is known for bringing the molokhiyya to your table and adding the tasha with a dramatic pour. For the rabbit variety, try Abou El Sid in the upscale district of Zamalek.

Load up on carbs with kushari

Kushari is a mix of white rice, brown lentils and pasta topped with chickpeas, tomato sauce, garlicky vinegar and fried onions. The pasta can include vermicelli, cute little macaroni and small pieces of spaghetti. Shatta (spicy sauce) is optional.

It is thought to have roots in India’s khichri, a rice and lentil dish. In Egypt, it was initially sold on food carts, but now can be found in all types of establishments – even served with quail eggs at refined restaurant Khufu’s with a view of the Pyramids of Giza. Alexandrian kushari uses yellow lentils, instead of brown, and is topped with fried boiled eggs.

Where to try it: Abou Tarek in downtown Cairo is the “King of Koshary,” expanding from a simple food cart in 1963 to a three-floor restaurant filled with both tourists and locals. It even has branches in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Stuff your vegetables and your birds

Mahshi refers to the stuffing of vegetables, like peppers, eggplants, zucchini, tomatoes, and grape or cabbage leaves. They are filled with rice seasoned with diced tomatoes, onion, parsley and spices, and cooked in a pot topped with broth. Variations include adding ground beef or meat shanks. It is a time-intensive labor of love at home, especially the wrapping of grape (warak enab) and cabbage leaves (cromb).

Another specialty that comes stuffed is hamam mahshi, a pigeon filled with spiced rice or the green wheat-derived freekeh.

Where to try it: Dawar Om Hassan in Dokki offers a mixed mahshi plate, a vine leaves plate and a stuffed cabbage plate. Farahat is the place to go for pigeon and has a few branches in Cairo, including near Al-Azhar Mosque in Old Cairo. 

Feast on fatta

Fatta is a mixture of rice, chunks of boiled meat, and toasted pita bread topped with a garlicky tomato sauce or yogurt. There are several variations, including adding chickpeas or eggplant.

Where to try it: Le Tarbouche on the Nile boat Le Pacha has “knuckles” fatta made with cow’s feet, baladi fatta with lamb, and eggplant fatta with meat and yogurt.

Give new meaning to "enriched" rice

Roz muammar combines rice, fresh cream, milk and samna baked in a clay oven, and is a specialty of the Egyptian Delta region.

Where to try it: 7agogah near Cairo airport prides itself on falahi countryside food.

Make some room for mashwiyat and meat pastries

Mashwiyat is meats grilled over charcoal, such as kofta (minced meat with spices and parsley rolled into a finger shape), kabab (chunks of lamb or beef) and poultry.

Egyptians also fill their bread and pastries with minced meat, onions and spices as demonstrated by hawawshi, invented by a butcher named Ahmed al-Hawawsh in the 1970s, and rokak, a crispy meat pie.

Where to try it: Sample both grills and meat pastries at Kebabgy at the Sofitel in Zamalek. For fabulous grilled chicken and quail accompanied by freshly baked baladi bread, head to Andrea El Mariouteya in New Giza. For just hawawshi? Where else but Hawawshi El Rabie in Imbaba.

Pile on the Egyptian pancakes

Referred to as Egyptian pies, pancakes or pizza, feteer meshaltet are layers upon layers of pastry dough coated with liberal amounts of samna in between. Its fillings and toppings can be either savory or sweet. At its most basic, it is served with honey, molasses, and ishta (cream), or a dip made from a specific type of salty cheese known as mish.

Its creative versatility is endless with such savory fillings as ground beef, cheese, mixed vegetables, eggs, pastrami and hot dogs, and sweet fillings like Nutella, lotus cream, custard and sugar.

Where to try it: Fetiret Dina Farms has branches in the suburbs of eastern and western Cairo, or you can make a trip to the farm site 80 kilometers from Cairo on the highway to Alexandria. Otherwise, Feteera is centrally located on 26th July Street in Zamalek with take-out and delivery options.

Savor seafood from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea

Egypt is blessed with the Mediterranean to the north and the Red Sea to the east. One will find many types of fish, such as grouper (waqar), seabass (qarous), and mullet (bouri). They can be prepared singari style, butterflied and filled with vegetables and spices; in a casserole with oven-baked potatoes; or simply grilled with olive oil and lemon.

Egyptian fried fish bisarya – tiny silver-sided fish – are eaten whole minus the heads. Shrimp, crab, oysters, mussels, clams, squid, octopus and lobster are also on offer.

Where to try it: In Alexandria, enjoy a seaside meal at the White & Blue Greek Club or Zephyrion. In Sharm El Sheikh’s Naama Bay, try Dananeer Seafood & Steak House.  

Be adventurous with body parts, from sheep’s head to cow’s feet

Head, tongue, brain, intestines, liver, tail and knuckles are some of the items you might find on Egyptian restaurant menus. Cow and sheep brains are boiled, baked or breaded. Mombar is sheep intestines stuffed with a rice mixture and deep fried.

Kawaraa, cow’s or lamb’s trotters, are boiled in a broth and served as a soup, or added to dishes like fatta and warak enab. Chopped-up liver fried with bell peppers, onions, and spices and served in a baguette-like bread called aish fino is an Alexandrian specialty.

Where to try it: Fasahet Somaya in downtown Cairo has a daily rotating menu, which sometimes includes items like kawaraa, mombar and oxtail, alongside more traditional specialties. Visit Farag Abo Khaled on the Alexandrian corniche for “the best liver in Egypt,” as it proclaims in neon lights.

Try alternatives to tea

Tea served in glasses and sweetened with heaps of sugar is a pick-me-up treat throughout a typical Egyptian’s day. However, there are many more hot and cold drinks to explore in the country’s cafes. Sahlab is a creamy drink made from milk, sugar, and sahlab powder derived from the dried tubers of white orchid, and decadently topped with cinnamon, pistachios, or coconut.

Cold drinks include karkadé (hibiscus), kharoob (carob) juice, and doum juice made from the fruit of the doum palm. Don’t forget seasonal juices, such as mango, guava and sugarcane.

Where to try it: Naguib Mahfouz Café in Khan El Khalili has a good selection of drinks to go with its extensive food menu. To make karkadé at home, buy bags of dried hibiscus flowers from markets in Aswan in Upper Egypt.

Let them eat Om Ali

This Egyptian bread pudding dessert is named “Mother of Ali” after the wife of a 13th-century Mamluk ruler. The legend is that Om Ali had her husband’s second wife Shagaret El Dor murdered and then celebrated her victory with a special dessert distributed among the people.

It could be entirely fiction, but the story and, luckily, the dessert live on. It is made of layers of puff pastry soaked in sweetened milk, and topped with nuts (makasarat) and golden raisins before being baked in the oven.

Other top desserts in Egypt include basboussa (a semolina cake soaked in sugar syrup), roz bi labban (rice pudding) and mahalibiyya (milk pudding).

Where to try it: Save space for Om Ali at Amir El Domiaty, basboussa at Mandarin Koueider, and roz bi labban with dates at Cairo Kitchen.

Vegetarians and vegans

Many Egyptian dishes are vegetarian with protein sources like beans and lentils, including koshari, fuul and ta’amiyya. Bessara is a creamy green dip made from fava beans and fresh herbs. Vegetables, such as bamya (okra), eggplant, and qulqas (taro root stew), are cooked in a variety of ways that make for filling meals with rice.

Unfortunately, lentil soup or molokhiyya may be cooked using a chicken or meat-based broth. For a fully vegan (but not Egyptian) menu, try Vegan in Our House in Maadi.

A year in food

January 7

Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas on this day, following a 43-day fast abstaining from animal products with limited fish allowed. They enjoy roasted meats, such as lamb or chicken, and fatta. Another hallmark of the occasion is kahk, Egyptian cookies dusted with powdered sugar and often filled with dates, walnuts or agameya (similar to Turkish delight).

Spring

Coptic Easter Sunday is celebrated after an even longer strictly vegan fast of 55 days. On the Monday following Orthodox Easter, Egyptians herald the arrival of spring with Sham El-Nessim, which means “smelling the breeze” in Arabic. The cultural festival’s roots can be traced back to ancient Egyptian times. The traditional foods enjoyed include fiseekh (salted mullet), green onions and colored eggs.

Summer

Some of Egypt’s best locally grown fruits come out in the summertime, such as mangoes, watermelon, figs, and dates. Egypt cultivates more than 200 varieties of mangoes, among them the popular awees, taymour, alfons and hendi. Ismailia, a city on the west bank of the Suez Canal, is the country’s top destination for delicious mangoes. Guavas and prickly pears (teen shoki) also start making an appearance on fruit stands.

Fall

A couple of the unusual fruits harvested in the autumn include cherimoya or custard apple (known locally as eshta) and persimmons.

Winter

While strawberries are a summer fruit elsewhere, the peak of Egypt’s strawberry harvest occurs during winter, mainly in the Nile Delta region. The sugarcane harvest typically occurs from January to May in Upper Egypt.

Islamic holidays

The timings of Islamic holidays are set by a lunar calendar and, therefore, shift every year. Certain desserts are reserved for the month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. These include the syrup-soaked kunafa, made with crispy shredded phyllo pastry, and atayef, sweet dumplings filled with cheese or nuts.

Like Coptic Christmas, kahk marks the celebration of both Eid El-Fitr (the end of Ramadan) and Eid El-Adha (the festival of sacrifice). During Eid El-Adha, Egyptian Muslims traditionally slaughter a sheep to commemorate the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail. The Prophet Muhammad’s birthday is celebrated with hawalayat el moulad, sweets such as nougats – nut brittles and the chewy malban.