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

An amusement park, a Ferris wheel, a food court and much more is found in Zed Park’s 165 acres of luxurious fun. Amid the refreshing open-space greenery and business offices lies Italiano, the park’s very own authentic Italian pizzeria and upscale restaurant. Conveniently enough, you do not have to pay for tickets for the park itself if you’re only going to dine in the restaurant.

We headed there in the afternoon to enjoy the sunset horizon by the Ferris wheel. We were greeted gracefully by the receptionist and taken to our table by the window. The place definitely had a luxurious Feng shui vibe going on, with pastel vases, massive screens, granite decors, and a cosy smoking room right in the middle of the restaurant. We started our meal with mocktails; a Mojito (85 LE) – lime juice with mint and sugar syrup and a Peach Melba (85 LE) – peach puree, peach juice, and mixed berries. Both were refreshing and tasty – a perfect combination with the Burrata Anti Pasti (230 LE) we ordered. The antipasti had tomatoes, oregano, and basil – however, as revitalising as the mix was, the burrata cheese itself didn’t have the creamy centre this type of cheese is famous for.

Soon after, we decided to try the Octopus Salad (150 LE) – octopus, potatoes, celery, basil, lemon and cherry tomatoes. This salad, unfortunately, fell a bit short; the octopus was extremely chewy, and the potatoes were undercooked, they tried to get us a new plate of the same salad, but it still had errors. However, they were nice enough to take it off the check and apologised immensely.

Shortly after, we chose to move to our main courses, we got the Salmon Grill (220 LE) and the Beef Fillet with truffle sauce (300 LE) cooked medium, both of which came with a side of grilled vegetables. The salmon was cooked nicely on top of a bed of a flavourful veggie mix. Conversely, the puree on the dish was uncalled for; it was bland and didn’t compliment the flavours on the plate. The beef dish, more or less, had the same bland puree issue and came cooked slightly under medium, but the quality of the beef itself was top-notch and the truffle sauce was simply delicious.

Last but not least, we finished off our meal with homemade Honey Cake (95 LE) – layered Russian cake filled with honey and cream. This dessert was light, tasty, and balanced, and so was the scoop of mango sorbet on the side. Even though we might not have had the experience we thought we would, the staff were friendly and took our comments graciously and took the dessert off the check as a nice gesture. Italiano has many perks, especially the view, and their extensive menu also includes pasta, Neopolitan-style pizza and much more – so maybe next time we will have the flawless experience we hope for.