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

Consistency is a fragile thing and a hard to achieve, especially when comes to restaurants. Usually the first thing that suffers after opening several new branches is the quality of the food which also takes a dip over time – a recurring theme for Cairo’s restaurant scene. Having received prior positive reviews, we went to test the mettle of Salt’s newest branch.

The dry-aged beef burger and fast-food specialist boasts an unusual venue at New Cairo’s Cairo Festival City; it’s basically a small food truck with a few tables surrounding it.

After making our way to the small window to make our order, we took a seat and waited for our food to arrive; even though we ordered appetisers, all the food arrived at the same time, almost forty minutes later.

We kicked things off with Chicken Wings (38LE) and Onion Wings (15LE); the wings were topped with almost too much buffalo sauce, which made them soggy, while the flavour overpowered the chicken. The onion rings, meanwhile, were well-seasoned and had a soft and tender filling with a crunchy exterior.

Moving to our mains, we ordered the Bacon Galaxy (68LE + 21LE for combo) and the XL Classic (58LE 21LE for combo) with sides of cheese sauce (6LE) & chilli (6LE), and finally the Buffalo chicken sandwich (42LE).

On its dry-aged beef burger patty, the Bacon Galaxy had cheese, pickles and a potato croquette with stuffed with beef bacon and cheddar cheese. Though it sounded good on paper, the croquette exploded making the burger soggy. Overwhelming most of the flavour, the potato doesn’t give the bacon a chance to shine and at times we forgot there was bacon in the sandwich to begin with.

As a large patty topped with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, ‘special sauce’ and cheese, the XL burger was underwhelming too; the seasoning on the beef was lacking and so its basic toppings didn’t amount to much in terms of flavour.

Luckily, the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich redeemed what came before it. Made up of a fried chicken breast topped with tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, American cheese, ‘special sauce’ all while covered with a serving of buffalo sauce, everything hit the mark. The chicken was flavourful and tender on the inside with a pleasing crunch on the outside, while the buffalo sauce gave it a hint of spiciness making it well-rounded sandwich overall.

And so while Salt’s first branches blew us away, it’s third and latest branch has ground to make up. If you don’t believe us, check out the reviews for Maadi and Heliopolis for yourself.