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

We recently asked what Cairo’s favourite
burger joint was, and the responses threw up everything from Fuddruckers and
Burger Kitchen to the baladi burgers of Amo Hosny. We were recently
very impressed with the burgers at Jobo Sports Bar in El Gouna, so now we’re on
the lookout for something as good here in Cairo.

The newly opened Grizzly Diner has filled
the gap next to Coffee Shop Company on Zamalek’s Abul Feda Corniche, promising
an authentic American diner experience.   

Two seating areas are available. The indoor
seating is a shiny black space with a decent view of the Nile. The steps to the side of the entrance take
you to the slightly larger outdoor area on a lower deck, where the kitchen also
is. The decor only really mimics the bright red of a diner in its chairs,
although metal plaques featuring the names and badges of American football
teams and doo-wop music coming through the speakers add a little atmosphere.

The cuisine at Grizzly Diner includes burgers, steak, pasta and chicken. The
combo platter (34.99LE) consists of mozzarella sticks, mushrooms onion rings and
chicken wing lollipops – all fried. Nothing really stood out, but the serving
was generous and would satisfy two or three people.

Two versions of every burger are offered;
home-grown and Australian Angus. The menu tells us that the former is made of
meat grazed locally, and that the latter is imported prime beef. There’s about
a 15LE difference in price, and anyone who has had Australian Angus before
won’t mind paying the extra.

Each burger comes with several options for
sides. You can choose between variously prepared potatoes (fries, wedges,
mashed, skins), a serving of Caesar salad or a small portion of one of the
varieties of pasta that the menu offers.     

The burgers arrive at your table on a wooden
serving paddle, and the generous portion of wedges is served in a small bucket. The mushrooms in the shitaki mushroom
burger (44.99LE) were barely discernible, but the meat itself was cooked to a
perfect pink inside, and the salad was noticeably fresh. The same applied to
the BBQ onion straws burger (44.99LE), though it barely had any of the BBQ sauce
that the menu promised. The wedges were chunky, seasoned well and served hot,
and the Caesar salad was fresh though its dressing was quite runny.

The obvious choice for afters was the apple
pie (24.99LE) – the most American of all desserts. Expecting a slice of
sweet golden-crusted pie, we received two squares of a floppy brown goo
with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and lines of caramel sauce. The apple was
well overcooked and the crust had the consistency of a layer from inside a bowl
of om ali.

Milkshakes are offered in a range of
different combos at 21.99LE. The cookie dough shake and the rolling stones
shake were both more watery than the American versions that they try to imitate,
although they’re served in metal tumblers as per American tradition. The rolling
stone shake is made of pineapple, banana and coconut. Without getting too
scientific about blended fruits, we found that pineapple
and banana are generally too different in consistency to go well together.

Zamalek locals can pop by Grizzly Diner in
the morning for a pancake breakfast, but the burgers are absolutely where Grizzly
can make its mark. Trying so desperately to imitate an American diner, however, may
send it off track.