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

Hidden deep within Maadi, lays Burdogz – a second storey venue overlooking a nice garden and a side street, that has become popular for its ‘bottomless fries’ and ‘bottomless drink offer’. The restaurant itself isn’t big, with twelve tables with backless benches taking a small part of the hallway of the building and the interior of the venue itself.

After waiting for thirty minutes on a waiting list, we finally took our seats on a busy evening, where we were given a list to mark our orders on. Since there were no signature sandwiches we were given the opportunity to customize our own creations. DIY sandwiches are a double edged sword as a person who doesn’t know the flavours of the items they are ordering may end up with something that doesn’t taste good.

We ordered everything on the menu, starting with the Onion Rings (16LE) and the Cheese Sticks (24LE) which arrived thirty minutes later, each in a metal cup with a mayonnaise dip in a small bowl. The four cheese sticks were cigar shaped with a golden brown crusty exterior shell and a gooey cheesy interior. As for the onion rings, we assume they didn’t taste particularly special.

Another fifteen minutes later came our burgers, the first of which was the Burger 200 gm (52LE) which we added lettuce, cheese, onion rings, bacon, honey mustard and mushrooms to. The burger came topped with the previously mentioned items on a metal tray with a side of wedges (bottomless fries/wedges and unlimited drink refill (30 LE)). However since there was a problem with the soda machine we could only get a can at the time.

The wedges were fine, but like the onion rings, didn’t offer anything special, especially when they weren’t even seasoned well. As for the burger, there was so little mushroom and bacon on the burger that we barely tasted them and they only offered a slight aftertaste. The burger patty itself, on the other hand, was very good – well-seasoned, slightly juicy and bursting with a quality beefy flavour.

Our second creation was a 125 gm burger (43LE) which we topped with bacon, onion, cheese, BBQ sauce, ranch and lettuce. It was, all-in-all, similar to its bigger brother, but the toppings added sweet and tangy flavours that complimented each other.

Finally, the hotdog (28LE) came topped with mayonnaise, caramelised onions, relish, and cheese as per our request. The sandwich as a whole had a mostly oniony taste to it, as the caramelised onions overpowered almost everything except the hotdog itself. The relish was almost nowhere to be found and, overall, the hotdog was a bit of a letdown.

We tried ordering refills for our wedges and fries, but loud music and frantic staff all factored in the fact that it took about fifteen minutes to simply get the attention of anyone and another thirty minutes for them to arrive. Even after arriving, they did so in a small quantity and in the same cups as the appetisers which was even more frustrating.

In fact, this was the biggest issue. The venue was so jam-packed, that the staff seemed unaware of all that was around them, which led to wrong items being served to us and other customers, and even issues with the bill, which we had to return three times.

Even the gimmick of offering bottomless fries – which took a total for 45 minutes to arrive –and unlimited refills – which were nonexistent during our visit – fell down, leaving not very much to go back for.