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

Dishes in Zamalek is one of the more recent additions to the plethora of Cairo cafés. Located far from the bustling 26th of July Street, on the far less pedestrian-friendly Gezira Street, it proved to be an interesting and original setting for the shisha café, to say the least. The atmosphere is friendly, inviting, and usually quite relaxed, although it does get very busy on weekends.

We arrived to Dishes very hungry, and the reactions to the food were, on the whole, quite mixed. However, we were unanimously amused by the innovative spelling and translations found on the menu –the most memorable among them being ‘grape paper’; an interesting alternative to ‘vine leaves’.

To begin with, we ordered a mango juice (18LE) and banana smoothie (24LE), as well as a few appetisers, including spring rolls (30LE), nachos (26LE), baba ghanough (15LE) and fattoush salad (16LE). Much to our surprise, they didn’t offer hommos, and much to our disappointment we were informed that they were out of the much anticipated ‘grape paper’.

The drinks were excellent, both fresh and extremely tasty, and the large selection of smoothies left us wondering how the various alternatives might have compared. The starters were all decent;the spring rolls especially delicious, although we were a little disappointed by the mediocre quality of the complimentary bread, which frankly seemed quite stale. The nachos were also lacking in some essential ingredients, and weren’t served with the customary side of guacamole, sour cream and salsa.

Our choice of mains was quite diverse, a reflection of the variety of dishes on offer. The chicken and beef quesadillas (37LE, 51LE) were a hit, as was the mango chicken (55LE), although we did feel the mango sauce slightly overpowered the flavour of the chicken.

Quite satisfied with the generous portions, we were only able to sample one of the several desserts on offer. We initially chose the waffles, but were informed that they were unavailable, so we settled for the blueberry cheesecake (26LE) instead. The portion was again very generous, but the cake itself was a little too sweet. However, a good balance was struck between crust, cake, and fruit topping, and the texture of the cake was impressive.

Dishes is definitely a worthy addition to the list of  cafés in the area, although it will probably be remembered for its pleasant and very Zamalek-esque atmosphere rather than its food.