Cairo’s first hipster Egyptian restaurant (and now a national franchise), Abou El Sid is as popular with tourists as it is with upper-class natives. You can get better molokhiyya (garlicky leaf soup, speciality of Egypt) elsewhere, but here you wash it down with a wine or beer and lounge on kitschy gilt ‘Louis Farouk’ furniture.
The entrance is just off Sharia 26th of July; take the street between Diwan bookstore and Maison Thomas, and look for the tall wooden doors. Reservations are a good idea.
