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

Ever wonder if there’s a big flavour difference between typical store-bought pasta vs freshly made? Nowadays, every high-end restaurant is riding the hype of freshly-made or “home-made” items because fresh is always better, right? Well, that’s absolutely correct! Freshly-made pasta is lighter with a refined, smooth texture, unlike store-bought. This is where Macaronita saw the opportunity; this local fresh pasta truck started serving generous bowls of fresh pasta to Hacienda Red goers last summer and has finally made its way to Street 88, Palm Hills, in early November.

Boasting a strategic location surrounded by other food trucks in Street 88, Macaronita’s truck makes a great grab-and-go option or a pleasant casual bite in the fresh air. We visited their venue for late lunch, and we could see that many orders were coming out; for both delivery and dine-in. We browsed their menu, ordered, then took a seat at the wooden benches in front of their truck. We decided to share the Millionaire from the starter section (89 LE) – steak fries, house special blended herbs, truffle paste, and parmesan cheese. The fries took a bit of time to arrive but came in hot and tasty – however, portion-wise, it definitely wasn’t value for money. However, the owner was friendly enough to give us a complimentary item from their new menu; the Cheesy Chicken Balls (80 LE) – fried chicken balls, smoked beef bacon, melted cheese, and green olives. The four mini chicken balls were perfectly crisp from the outside and tender on the inside, yet the portion didn’t match the price once more.

We waited for our pasta orders for quite a while, and as our bowls made their way to our bench, we could tell that the portions were quite satisfying. We had ordered one Bacon Shroom Caramelised Onion Rigatoni (129 LE) – beef bacon, onion, mushrooms, parsley, and parmesan cheese, and one Crunch Pesto Parpadelle Pasta with Fresh Cream (129 LE) – pesto Macaronita creamy sauce, almonds, and garlic chips. Both orders came in quite flavourful, seasoned, and enjoyably creamy. The bacon pasta with white sauce was filling yet pleasant, so was the pesto pasta – the fresh pasta texture doesn’t fill you up as much as regular pasta would. If we had one comment, it would be that they were a bit too generous with the garlic chips, making the pesto pasta a flavourful bloating hazard, but the fresh pasta’s silky smooth texture more than made up for it.

We then got the Signature Macaronita Chocolate Pasta for dessert (90 LE) – chocolate sauce, pecans, vanilla ice cream, and pistachio. Heavenly is an understatement; this velvety chocolate bowl of goodness got a perfect score on our board. The hot chocolate sauce with the chocolate pasta is out of this world, and of course, the nuts and ice cream balanced out the dish’s richness. All in all, our meal was pleasing and bursting with flavour – if you’re craving a good bowl of pasta, Macaronita is for sure the first to put on your list.