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

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MAi TAi

MAi TAi: Most Overpriced Lunch Menu of All Time?

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  • Al Guezira Plaza, Sheikh Zayed Cairo, Egypt
  • Asian,Mexican
  • 15:00 - 02:30
reviewed by
Ramy Soliman
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MAi TAi: Most Overpriced Lunch Menu of All Time?

Located at Al Guezira Plaza, Mai Tai has a very colourful interior. The indoor area has high tables in the middle, regular seating on the left, and a bar on the right. The use of indoor palm trees, along with the vibrant blue chairs, just gave the place a cheerful ambience that was balanced by the simple wooden tables and chairs.

When it came to the lunch menu, the variety was very, very limited. We’re talking only three main dishes to choose from! We opted to start with the Shrimp Palmetto Salad (200 LE) and the Chicken Quesadillas (145 LE) as appetisers.

Starting with the salad, it consisted of a mix of baby corn, cherry tomato, palmetto, mixed greens, and orange & lemon dressing. The dressing used was far from an orange & lemon dressing, and was more of a spicy mayo, and the salad was extremely saucy, to the point that it overpowered the freshness you look forward to in any salad. Also, why did we pay 200 LE++ for a salad?

As for the quesadillas, they were filled with mixed bell pepper, onion, cheese, chicken, and served with store-bought fries, sour cream, pico de gallo, and guacamole. We loved how there was a generous amount of filling, and how the chicken was well seasoned. On the other hand, the guacamole was just sad since they used unripe avocado. Also, using frozen fries didn’t help us ignore the steep price.

Moving to the mains, we really didn’t have much of a choice so we went with the Grilled Salmon (320 LE) and the Fillet Steak with Cheese Sandwich (195 LE).

Despite the fact that we paid 320 LE for a grilled salmon dish, we have to say that it was worth it. The salmon was super tender, moist, and flaky, the garlicky spinach it was sitting on was terrific, and the orange zest on top gave a beautiful citrusy flavour to every bite, and enhanced the sweet flavours of the chunky orange soy sauce on the side. Meanwhile, the weird mashed potato muffin was just really bad. It was super bland with an extremely dry and tough crust, and was very grainy inside.

The sandwich left us a bit confused. We mean, we loved that they’re using good quality cheese and they’re not holding back with the sandwich filling. Also, the steak was very tender, perfectly seasoned, and the cuts were flawless for the sandwich; the addition of fresh mushroom was good with the cheese and steak, and the bread just had a fantastic crust. But then, we felt like the tomato and lettuce had no place in this; they kind of overpowered everything and made us feel like we were eating a cold cut sandwich. Removing the tomato and lettuce, and then melting the cheese a little bit could’ve made a huge difference to this sandwich.

To sum up our experience at Mai Tai, we can say that we paid a total of 1200 LE for two appetisers and two mains, and only one of those dishes was remarkable.

 

360 Tip

Go after 7 pm for more variety on the menu.

Best Bit

The grilled salmon could be the best in town.  

Worst Bit

Extremely overpriced and some combinations don’t make sense.

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