The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

In a world full of melted-cheese-everything and Nutella-smothered-anything, we can’t help but crave some simple, classic flavours with top quality ingredients. But thanks to a little bakery in Zamalek by the name of Copenhagen, our cravings for classics have been fulfilled through some perfectly executed sandwiches and some outstanding desserts

Located at 26th of July Street, Copenhagen is a tiny bakery with two fixed high-tables and around seven high chairs which are great for some ‘me-time’, but overall it’s more of a takeout place. The bakery has an L-shaped working station with products displayed on the front and it also has a chalkboard with the day’s specials.

We went to check the fridge display with the sandwiches, salads and parfaits, and everything looked delicious and fresh. The choices were tough, but we settled with the Roast Beef Sandwich (45LE) and the Roast Turkey and Cheese Sandwich (40LE).

Served in an outstanding soft French brown bread, the roast beef sandwich consists of a generous amount of thinly-sliced of beef which had a nice consistency, lettuce, a spot-on amount of mayo and Dijon mustard sauce that worked perfectly with the pickles, and slices of cheddar cheese. The waiter mentioned that they make their own roast beef and it shows; the other ingredients were equally fresh and of excellent quality, but the freshness of the bread stole the show – all this despite the sandwich looking rather bland.

As for the turkey and cheese sandwich, it was pretty much the same, but was served in an even more impressive white bread that stole the show all over again. However, what surprised us the most was how the roast turkey wasn’t overly dry like at most delis. It was another simple yet flavourful sandwich with top quality ingredients.

Moving to the desserts, we went with the Blueberry Cake (20LE), Chocolate Fudge (25LE), and Almond Croissant (18LE). The blueberry cake came in form of a square shaped slice of very moist and fluffy cake topped with blueberry compote. The overalls sweetness of dessert was on-point, the presentation was eye-catching in the display and the cake itself felt homemade.

The chocolate fudge, meanwhile, came as a cylinder-shaped chocolate cake with layers of sticky fudge in between, which created similar flavours to cake pops, but it kept the light and airy texture of the cake. The fudge cake was also completely coated with a thick coat of sticky and stretchy chocolate ganache that added more bold chocolate flavours. We just loved the buttery sable cookie at the bottom which added a terrific crunch and diversity in textures.

The almond croissant, on the other hand, was a surprise and was our favourite item of the day. The croissant was buttery and flaky with a flawless golden brown colour while the almond and vanilla cream, which had a custard-like consistency, was delicious and almond slices on top gave every bite a nice crunch. There was a little too much powdered sugar on top, but we’d eat that for breakfast every day of the week and never get bored.

Sandwiches and desserts like that are hard to find nowadays, and if you do, it’ll usually be made out of cheap quality ingredients that. We love Copenhagen’s back-to-basics approach, but the real key is the obvious quality of the ingredients – because no matter how creative or innovative any kind of food or dish is, if the ingredients are not up to standard, then there’s no point.