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

Anyone who’s ever been to Heliopolis’ Tivoli Dome knows exactly how crowded it can get. With so many shops crammed into such a small space, and a large influx of people rushing to celebrate the arrival of the weekend, one cannot even fathom the possibility of finding a quiet spot to have a conversation there. Café Etoile, however, provided exactly that.

We were greeted at the entrance by a pleasant waiter who offered us both outdoor and indoor seating. Wanting to sit down somewhere we can talk and avoid the large crowds’ clamour, we chose to sit indoors. We all immediately called dibs on and sunk into the comfortable couches. The waiter instantly placed our menus in front of us and gave us our space to make our choices.

In the mood for dessert and tea, we ordered a strawberry drizzled cheesecake (27.90 LE), an Etoile Tarte (31.90LE) and some soothing Green Tea. The menu featured some typical main courses but nothing you wouldn’t find in any other Cairo cafe. The drinks, however, were offered in abundance and we kept catching glances of the waiters carrying around some colourful and refreshing-looking smoothies.

Our cheesecake and tarte arrived quite swiftly alongside our tea and we simply could not wait to dig into their sugary goodness. The cheesecake was, despite its strangely small size, deliciously creamy and deceptively light with sweet Strawberry jam on top. The Tarte, however, was not as pleasing; the base did not have that distinct crumbly yet fluffy tarte texture and tasted like stale, crunchy pancakes. We also found the banana-caramel mixture covering the base a overwhelmingly sweet. Mixed with the vanilla ice cream, however, the overall taste was a bit more balanced and tolerable. The Green Tea was served in a metal tea pot which kept leaking water from the side and was, in our humble opinion, all together uncalled for.

To recap, our experience at Café Etoile, gooey tarte aside, was quite a pleasant one. Our waiter was pretty efficient, refilling our water every now and then, and did not, for a second, completely disappear. Thus, we found the overall service to be stellar. The prices were also reasonable and there was no minimum charge, as is the case with many other cafes in Tivoli Dome. Moreover, we found the general ambiance to be rather calm in a usually chaotic and noisy place.