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Hassanein

Hassanein: New Zamalek Street-Food Eatery Leaves Much to Be Desired

reviewed by
Dina Mokhtar
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Hassanein: New Zamalek Street-Food Eatery Leaves Much to Be Desired

The island of Zamalek is still very much the epicentre of dining and loitering in Cairo – although Maadi residents might suggest otherwise – and there’s never been any shortage of variety when it comes to satisfying a craving, with some of the city’s hippest food and beverage brands setting-up shop there, the latest of which is Hassanein. Located on Taha Hussein Street, the quirky eatery offers the best of Egyptian street-food, though – at the time of our visit – the small restaurant didn’t show many signs of becoming a Zamalek favourite.

Much like other Zamalek eateries including Manoushe Street and Mr. Wok, Hassanein has no room for seating, but does offer over 75 different on-the-go options, including hawawshi, oven-baked macaroni, Alexandrian liver, sweet and savoury feteer and more. The place itself is impossible to miss, boasting a bright yellow facade, with cartoon figures of two rural Egyptian men – lush moustaches and all.

After a quick skim through the gigantic menu, we opted for a mishmash of foods that included Chicken Shawerma Wrap (18LE), Oriental Sausage (sojok) Sandwich (20LE) and Nutella and Hazelnut Feteer (18LE).

Firstly, the service is prompt and friendly; no more than fifteen minutes after placing our order, our food arrived hot, though we couldn’t help but be a little disappointed.

We kicked things off by trying the sojok which – unlike most fast food restaurants – came un-mashed and in generous amounts; however, in spite of its appetising smell, it was surprisingly quite flavourless with an obvious lack of seasoning which, even its white sauce –a combination of garlic and mayonnaise – couldn’t save.   

Served in the good old Shami bread, the shawerma, meanwhile, did impress. The chicken itself was tender and retained much of its juices and, with the addition of pickles, garlic sauce and the traditional seasoning, it was a far cry from the sojok in terms of flavour.

Unfortunately, our dessert was underwhelming; wrapped in what was a quite greasy feteer, was a very petite amount of Nutella and burnt roasted hazelnuts, which left us with mixed feelings as we left Hassanein; on the one hand, both the service and the prices were great, but then two out of our three dishes fell down on some very basic things.

A cynic might dismiss Hassanein for jumping into the elevated street food market – one that was once championed by the likes of Zooba, but with reasonable prices and the fact that it has opened only recently, there’s still hope for Hassanein.

 

360 Tip

Hassanein delivers; call 01000190700. 

Best Bit

Good service, good prices.

Worst Bit

Basics let down by basic mistakes.

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