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

It’s no secret that sports – particularly football – are part and parcel of life in Cairo and, in the last few years, more and more venues have tried to cater to sports fans looking for something other than the traditional ahwa setting – think The Tap, for example. These places optimise the watching experience by offering suitably hearty, easy-to-eat foods alongside it, but there’s not really a place that you can call an out-and-out sports bar – until now.

After opening its first branch at Citystars, Buffalo Wings & Rings have gone all out with a dedicated sports bar at Heliopolis’ Radisson Blu. With screens plastered on every wall, including a gigantic projector-powered screen, the new venue is huge, with retractable roofs for a great outdoorsy feel on summer days.

With a mixture of high stools and regular diner styled seating areas, they’ve seemingly thought of everything; they of course have the infamous 1 Billion challenge throne, as well as a couple of tables that offer a little more privacy. New here is the addition of a full blown bar in the middle of the venue that is stocked with wine, beer and a Heineken on-tap, alongside a couple of foosball tables.

After taking our seats, we opted for the appetiser platter (165LE) to begin with; arriving fifteen minutes later, the platter came in a huge square plate with each item taking a corner and bowls of mixed cheese, salsa and ranch sauce on the side. Included in the items were the hand breaded onion rings alongside popcorn chicken, three mozzarella sticks and dipper fries.

Starting with the onion rings, they were very well breaded giving off an herby seasoning that offers an extra punch with the crispy outer shell that made for a satisfying bite. The mozzarella sticks were melted perfection, with yet another crunchy shell that made us clamour for more.

The dipper fries, meanwhile, were cut to be perfectly dipped and were phenomenal offering a nice contrast to the cheese and onion rings, especially when dipped into the ranch sauce.

Finally, the popcorn chicken was topped with a bam-bam sauce that gave it an extra punch thanks to satisfying spicy kick. The only letdown was the side of queso sauce, which was a bit watered down.

Later came our mains; Boneless Buffalo Wings topped with Crazy Sauce (88LE) and the Beef Bacon Cheeseburger (100LE). Both came in baskets with a side for French fries and the Buffalo Wings came with an extra side of blue cheese sauce, while the burger came with a side of coleslaw.

The wings were cooked to perfection, boasting a crunchy, golden crust, while the crazy sauce gave off a nice sugary and smoky BBQ taste, which then made way for equally pleasing garlic infused flavours.

With that kind of depth of flavour, we dare say that they were some of the best wings we’ve had in a long time. Extremely well-seasoned with a hint of paprika, meanwhile, the fries were also a highlight.

With fresh ingredients, the burger was just as good; the beef itself was of high quality offering a level of juiciness and meatiness, the beef bacon added an extra smoky flavour and the simple but fresh lettuce, onions and pickles were a perfect foil.

The dessert had plenty to live up to, the Double Take (33LE); had pieces of green apple topped with caramel and roasted peanuts. Complimenting each other perfectly, the apple offered a sourness to contrast the sweetness of the caramel all while having a nice nutty and slightly savoury backdrop offered by the peanuts; a simple, sweet and refined end to the evening.

Buffalo Wings & Rings have opened the perfect sports bar, where all the matches can be caught at the same time because of the large amount of screens available. There’s a suitably rowdy hustle and bustle whenever there is a big match on show and unlike other similar places, it’s inviting to both those who are looking for alcohol and those that are not. Even on the days that don’t have a match taking place it would still offer a great place to hang out, to simply indulge in some great comfort food and chill.