City Life
New in Cairo: Ten Things We’re Excited About this October
written by
Cairo 360
The month of October is full of exciting new openings, interesting festivals, concerts and workshops happening around Cairo. Here are Cairo 360’s Top Ten new discoveries around town:
1. Zamalek’s 33 Abul Feda Address is booming with new restaurants and cafés. First we had the Coffee Shop Company/Tofaha, then Abdel Wahab, and recently Lino’s as well as Grizzly. Now Fish Makan has opened – brought to us by the same people behind Mori Sushi – and soon frozen yogurt chain TCBY will open, as well as Egyptian restaurant El Mahroussa. This is going to be one busy Corniche!
2. Speaking of busy, Citystars in Heliopolis has been pretty busy with its new ventures, including Dairy Queen in Phase 2’s Food Court, offering blizzards, dipped cones and other ice cream treats as well as fast food sandwiches and more. Meanwhile Payless Shoe Source, Boss Orange and Marks & Spencer are just among the major brands to open soon in the mall.
3. Cairo keeps finding fun new ways to stay healthy: Adam’s & Blend in Heliopolis is part-tasty sandwiches joint part-fresh juice shop; Adam’s offers wraps &sandwiches, while Blend makes fruit smoothies and frozen yoghurt for healthy post-workout desserts – we’re not sure about their crêpes being low in calories, though.
4. This may not be entirely new; but Cairo 360 stumbled upon Qasr Twenty, a cooking school set in the heart of downtown Cairo that offers courses on authentic Egyptian cuisine. Although the classes are quite pricey at USD85 per person, the school’s impeccably stylish interior and intimate teaching classes make this a perfect gift for your culinarily inclined friend.
5. Speaking of courses, Diwan’s Heliopolis Branch is offering a one-day meditation workshop by Maryana Clerc, an accredited meditation instructor who will help you find calm and serenity in your busy everyday life. The workshop costs 350LE and will take place on October 17th from 7PM to 10PM. If you’re looking for more regular meditation courses, try the courses at Ashtanga Yoga Cairo, Ashtanga Yoga Egypt, the Breathing Room, Omni Yoga and On The Mat.
6. Jewellery Designer Extraordinaire Azza Fahmy has launched her Pharaonic 2012 collection this month, and the amount of attention to detail put into the jewellery is seriously impressive. Fine, so some of these pieces may put a dent in our pockets, but their beautiful feathers necklace (each feather has a different design with heavy Pharaonic influences) and winged scarab earrings are so elegant and funky; they had Cairo 360’s team fawning with delight and contemplating which grandmother to sell for the jewellery.
7. October is a month full of interesting events, including the Characters of Egypt festival taking place in Aswan on October 26th. This three-day festival aims at celebrating Egypt’s diverse culture and ethnic traditions by bringing together the country’s 33 different ethnic groups to participate in a cultural exchange. The days will be filled with competitions, ethnic music concerts and tribal law workshops that will help us understand our tribes better. Add to that the serenity and beauty of the Aswan location, and you have yourself a fun, enlightening weekend trip.
8. Artists; take note! Townhouse Gallery has just announced an open call for submissions to its Reso program: a program of six to nine-week-long art research residencies in India, Italy, Egypt and Brazil. The deadline for your submission is October 30th, 2011; so hurry up and apply here!
9. New websites are popping up every month, making our consumer life in Cairo just a tad bit easier (and lazier!). Not that we’re complaining; we’ve come across Cherryblossom-Books, a new online bookstore that offers free delivery for purchases over 200LE and carries titles in Arabic and English, including cookbooks and comic books. The website is super easy to use, as is Offah, an online store offering seasonal and out-of-season fruit and vegetables by Pico and Makar, two reputable local producers renowned for their high-quality vegetables and fruits. Even better, you can order a few pre-cooked items like quail and sambousak, making grocery shopping even easier.
10. Last of all, The Kempinski Nile Hotel has opened its spa, creatively named Kempinski The Spa to the public after it was a members-only exclusive spa. The plush Garden City hotel has five individual treatment rooms as well as a Spa suite for couples, and offers expert treatments using Elemental Herbology treatments. Afterwards, you get to use their steam room, sauna and relaxation room. Yes, the spa’s treatments don’t come cheap, but this kind of pampering is worth saving up for.
Look out for our next month’s New in Cairo feature for the newest and best about Cairo. If you have any tips or recommendations for the best new things in the city, email us at info@cairo360.com
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