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

What have you been doing if you haven’t heard about the hype over Em Sherif opening in Cairo? This traditional Lebanese café and restaurant has branches in Beirut, London, and Cairo in Park Street in Sheikh Zayed and White by the Waterway in New Cairo. Egyptians love authentic Lebanese food, and quite frankly, you can never have enough Lebanese restaurants, right? A concept that idealises finesse, aesthetics, and good food is definitely worth a visit. So, as soon as we heard this restaurant finally opened in Park Street, we hurried there to be one of the first to try its much-anticipated selection.

The Sheikh Zayed venue is pretty spacious, with a massive indoor area and a refreshing outdoor space. The greenery and minimal chic aesthetic created a lovely atmosphere that was vibrant during the daytime. Even though the outdoor seating seemed very tempting, the weather was cold; we decided to get a table inside. As soon as we got to our table, a staff member greeted us and placed a coat rack next to us which helped hang our bags and jackets. We had a chat with our friendly waiter, that suggested we get a few starters first, so we got the Tabbouleh (78 LE), the Labneh (55 LE), and the Bamya bi Zeit (70 LE) – okra cooked in tomato and onion sauce. The three appetisers were sizable and delicious; the tabbouleh salad was fresh was tangy, while the Labneh was creamy and satisfyingly salty from the olive bits mixed in. Kindly enough, the waiter had served us one more complimentary appetiser for us to try. It was the Eggplant Fatteh – which was a dish filled with yoghurt and cooked eggplants – even though a lovely gesture, it was too much yoghurt and too little eggplant for us.

As for our mains, the menu was very tempting, but we finally settled on one Meat Shawerma Sandwich (160 LE) – 3 shredded meat rolls with a side of chips. Imagine a picture-perfect meat shawerma sandwich, and this is what you get at Em Sherif; the meat was impeccably seasoned, cooked, and presented.

We also had the Boneless Baby Chicken (209 LE), which came with no sides, so we ordered one Batata Harra (75 LE) along with it. This dish, unfortunately, fell a bit short – the chicken breasts were quite juicy and tasty, while the skin on the thighs was rubbery and oily – even though this was supposed to be a grilled dish. Conversely, the batata harra was successful; the potatoes were perfectly fried with that satisfyingly tangy, spicy kick we all love in the end.

We wanted to end our meal on a sweet note, so we browsed through their dessert section and ordered one Knefeh (125 LE) – konafa with eshta. We waited a while for our dessert, only to be a little disappointed. We had imagined a regular konafa dish; instead, we got a big bowl of creamy eshta with shredded konafa bits on top. The aesthetic, taste, and texture were so off-point that we didn’t really enjoy it. Perhaps this was another way to serve konafa, but it was not for us. However, it didn’t affect how we felt about our whole experience, which was extremely enjoyable and hospitable.