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

Across Cairo restaurants, there are certain and foods that are served in almost all international cuisine menus, sometimes as a side and sometimes as a dish of its own. But no matter how expensive it is or where you choose to try it, it always seems half-baked (ha!) and just not given enough attention.

A prime example of this are baked potatoes. Sure, you can sprinkle some salt and pepper and add some butter, but there’s more to this seemingly simple thing than people seem to realise here.

While the only other restaurant that puts this much focus into the dish is Simply Potatoes, now the residents of Maadi can rejoice at the fact that there’s another option on their very own Road 9.

Jacket Potato – as the Brits call it – opened up for business just last month, boasting a rather stylish-looking, moderately-sized restaurant with both an outdoor and indoor area. An open kitchen reveals a salad and topping bar with all the extras where you can have one of the staff prepare one of the items off the set menu, or build your own.

We were greeted warmly at the door and shown to an empty table, but we opted to head straight to the topping bar and figure out what to order.

The menu offers various chicken, meat and vegetarian options, as well as salads and sweet potato desserts. We opted for a classic Cheesy Minced Beef (37LE) and a Chicken Paprikash (39LE).

Serving time is very short as they have a constants stream of potatoes coming out of the oven ready for toppings. The potatoes are served in perfectly-sized green boxes that contain the mess and could even be used as an on-the-go plate.

The Cheesy Minced Beef was every bit as deliciously decedent as it sounds, pulling together a generous amount of minced beef with Worcestershire Sauce, minted yoghurt and plenty of grated cheddar cheese. The bottom of the potato had just the right amount of char to create some crunch and the dish was very filling.

The Chicken Paprikash was also a hit, featuring chicken breast marinated in paprika spices, sour cream, mushrooms and, again, a generous amount of cheddar cheese.

We decided to try one of the dessert options as well, and so we opted for a Sweet Potato with Cream and Honey (19LE). The potentially sickly sweetness of the honey was dulled down slightly by the cream, creating a very simple tasty combination.

While the prices of upwards of 30LE for baked potatoes may seem much, but trust in Jacket Potato; it’s worth it for a quick, tasty, simple meal.