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

Over the last few years, one food trend has refused to die in Egypt – burgers. From lavish gourmet burgers, to quality fast-food-type burgers, there’s no lack of restaurants specialising in it – but now there’s one more.

Located at New Cairo’s River Walk Mall, Swedish chain, Max Burgers, is a one big fast food venue, yet it’s located in the most hidden spot in the mall. The contemporary industrial design is impressive for a fast-food chain and we love the grey scale interior with the small touches of wood in the ceiling. The ground floor of the burger joint is just for ordering, while the spacious first floor offers a wide variety of seating like high tables, couches and just normal chairs, and even has a kid’s area.

The menu seems like it offers lots of beef and chicken sandwiches, but when you look closer, they differ in no more than two ingredients – which is why we kept it simple  with the Grand Deluxe Cheese Burger Sandwich (50LE), Max Chicken Sandwich (40LE), a side of medium fries (15LE) and Jalapeño Sticks (30LE).

The Grand Deluxe Cheese Burger consists of a thick beef patty topped with a slice of processed cheddar cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomato and red onion, as well as the restaurants special which was too little to even notice. Despite that, we were pleasantly surprised by how the patty was cooked to a fantastic juiciness and the overall freshness of the other ingredients – excluding the cheese of course.

But the star of the sandwich was the super soft and light burger bun; so good was it, in fact, that that could easily compete with Salt’s legendary potato buns. Despite the juiciness of the patty, it was actually quite bland and lacked seasoning; but we’d still very easy call this one of the best fast food burgers we’ve had in a very long time.

On the other hand, the chicken was a bit of a letdown. The supposedly ‘crispy’ chicken patty actually had a mushy texture and a thin, soggy crust. Cheddar cheese, tomato, red onion, iceberg lettuce and mayonnaise couldn’t save it and the only source of flavour was the sweet pickled cucumbers. Overall, the sandwich was too basic and lacked any remarkable flavours.

As for the sides, the fries were very close to McDonald’s thin, crispy and perfectly cooked fries, but completely lacked seasoning. Meanwhile, the jalapeño sticks came in form of three melted-to-perfection cheese sticks with jalapeños bits, all surrounded by a super crunchy crust. We’ve tried this item at Willy’s Kitchen and Chilli Buzz, but it was too spicy to handle; this one, on the other hand, had a very pleasant heat to it.

We couldn’t leave without trying their Bubble Gum Strawberry (25LE) and Caramel Popcorn Milkshakes (25LE). The milkshake itself had a flawless consistency that is thick and smooth, but not quite melted-ice-cream-thick. Nonetheless, the mix of caramel and popcorn was a great combo and the bubble gum strawberry was a bit too sweet, but satisfied the inner kid in us.

Overall, we were impressed with Max Burgers. Apart from the chicken sandwich, the food was great, the cashier was really helpful and it’s a great fast food choice for New Cairo residents. Plus, the packaging and the sandwich assembly were surprisingly photo friendly – so there are plenty of Instagram opportunities for your inner-foodie.