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

Where
Trio was only recently located on Maraashly Street in Zamalek, a new
shisha stop, 3enab, has strategically taken over and opened amongst the
bustling crowd of trendy restaurants and cafés of the area.

3enab’s
central location, along with the colourful, bright neon signage above
the door, attracts a younger, more fashionable crowd; we had to wait
around fifteen minutes to be seated on a Saturday night. The décor is
much the same as before and the small restaurant is divided, with the
front exposed to the outside by a large sliding window. Seeking warmth,
we headed to the sheltered area at the back which was warm but
unfortunately, very smoky – particularly as it was crammed with both
people and shishas.

The lighting was
incredibly dim and if it wasn’t for the huge plasma TV screen
illuminating our table, we may have struggled to read the menu. The
shisha menu wasn’t as vast as we’d hoped, with a total of just nine
fruity flavours (20LE-40LE), but, there’s also the option to be
inventive and mix the tobaccos. We chose the most unusual, and slightly
out of place, Red Bull flavour (40LE) and, as a tribute to its name, one
3enab (grape) flavoured shisha (40LE). 

The
shishas were prepared carefully and arrived quickly. Noticing there was
no space on the floor to put our shisha, the waiter swiftly retrieved a
smaller, chrome shisha pipe to place on the table, which was both cute
and satisfyingly unobtrusive. The Red Bull was an adventurous choice and
proved that sometimes it’s better to stick to what you know. The thick
smoke was smooth as ever but with only a slight hint of flavouring. The
grape shisha was much more identifiable, being light and full of
flavour.  

Of course, when you order a
shisha, it is almost obligatory to sip on a juice of some sort. 3enab
offers a large selection of hot and cold drinks including smoothies,
fresh juices, frappés and cocktails. We went for a cocktail named after
the celebrity doctor, Dr. Oz (15.95LE), which turned out to be a healthy
blend of fresh carrots with a tangy orange juice kick; the honey added
some sweetness but was a little hard to mix in. Not wanting to overload
on veggies, we also went for a very sweet and fruity cherry berry juice
(17.95LE) to compliment our shisha choices.

The
food menu consists of many choices, from sharing platters, soups and
sandwiches to salads, steaks and grills. We settled on the Trio platter
(59.95LE) to share – a starter borrowed from the old menu – made up of
our choice of tasty coconut shrimp, the most delicious, buttery, grilled
corn on the cob and disappointingly cold chicken skewers.

Our
next course of beef fajitas (41.95LE) came in a large portion and
wrapped up in warm, soft bread with fresh onions, juicy tomatoes and
sweet red peppers, with nice, tender beef pieces. The dish came with
perfectly fried potato wedges, but was left unseasoned – which turned out for the best as it allowed us to add
the suitable amount of salt and pepper for ourselves.

To
finish, we spoilt ourselves with a fabulously sticky, hot chocolate
brownie and ice cream (59.95LE), which in our experience, more and more restaurants in
Cairo do exceedingly well – 3enab being no exception.