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

Latching onto the freshly baked bread trend at Cairo cafes, Euro Pain has opened up on Mohandeseen’s fashionable Geziret El Arab Street, boldly sitting opposite established French boulangerie, Paul. The tiny shop would be easily missed should you not look out for it, though the glass front shows off their minimalist, modern décor, helping it to stand out a little.

The small space is taken up largely by glass counters and shelves used to display samples of  bread loaves, sandwiches and sweet pastry creations. Having only been open for a few months, we were surprised to see the floor so scratched and the seating a little frayed on the edges already. There are just two stools available for seating and no tables, although, interestingly, we were offered a dine-in option, presumably to eat off of our laps.

Boasting a bread oven on site, the interesting collection of seeded and non-seeded baguettes (6LE-18LE), plain and sweet brioche (50LE-55LE) and toast loaves are baked fresh daily and looked impressive on first glance; however, as they were left exposed in baskets, the loaves appeared to have hardened throughout the day.

The sandwiches on display were days – possibly weeks – old, wrapped in cellophane to stop the inevitable turning of both the bread and the fillings. Luckily, our mini turkey sandwich was made fresh, upstairs and out of sight. Crispy salad pieces added a refreshing taste to the processed turkey pieces, whilst the mysterious, spicy sauce was overbearing to say the least. Disappointingly the mini bread roll was even smaller than we anticipated and was far from the fluffy, freshly baked base we’d envisaged.     

One of our favourite things to have for breakfast is chocolate croissants, so seeing them in mini form (3.50LE) excited us. Sadly, though, the bite-sized croissants were handed over cold and stale through to the middle with just a small amount of rich, runny, chocolate sauce curbing our disappointment.

Although not all options were displayed, according to the menu, cupcakes (10LE-12LE), fruity tarts (22LE-24LE) and cheese cakes (22LE) are aplenty. A medium-sized slice of carrot cake (24LE) didn’t impress and we were told not to eat it straight away as it was still defrosting. On top of this, there was an unusually thin layer of icing across the top and no filling to speak of to help break up the decidedly mediocre, tasteless and slightly dry carrot sponge.

Even though their prices are low, if Euro Pain are hoping to compete with well-known, reputable bakeries selling similar products, the quality of both the sandwiches and sweets should improve drastically. It’s early days though, and we may well return to see if things improve in the near future.