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

While shawerma is the undisputed king of sandwich-wraps in Cairo, doners, Greek gyros and other challengers to the throne are popping up more and more – the latest of which comes under the banner of new restaurant, Eat a Pita.

Located on Maadi’s Road 9, Eat a Pita’s venue caught our attention with its all-black facade and its cute sign showing a creature eating gyros on it. The indoor area is simply a working station with three skewers – beef doner, beef gyro and chicken gyro – behind it, with the menu is hung above, fast-food style. The only seating is outside and linear, sporting the same all-black style with touches of wood.

We opted for Chicken Gyro (48LE), Beef Doner (53LE) and Beef Shawarma (15LE) alongside fries (10LE). The zig-zag patterned sandwich wrapping and the black packet of fries gave the food an overall neat look that we really liked.

Starting with chicken gyro, the chicken itself was very tender, there was a generous amount of crispy-not-oily fries, the pita bread was very soft, light, fresh, and just flawless, and the overall flavours were simple and light. However, the tzatziki sauce was mintier and less garlicky and the red onions were scarce.

The beef doner wrap, however, was a showstopper. The thin slices of very tender beef were perfectly seasoned and had a pleasant heat to them, the amount of tomato and lettuce was on point, and the tangy thousand island-like sauce complimented the wrap really well.

As for the shawarma, the well-seasoned beef was mixed with onions and tomato, topped with a little bit of tahini and served in Kaiser roll. It was similar to the best of what you’d get at popular shawerma restaurants like Abo Heidar or Semsema, which there isn’t much of in Maadi.

From the very friendly staff and the cute branding, to the simple menu and the robust flavours, Eat a Pita impressed even more considering its still in its soft opening phase. Regardless, we’d have to problem going back – especially for the beef doner.