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

The concept of “authenticity” in the Egyptian food scene can be very tricky to achieve. Indeed, more often than not, restaurants tend to turn everything into a crowd-pleasing version of any given cuisine, instead of keeping things authentic. Mays Al Karam, however, managed to retain the authenticity of Lebanese cuisine, while simultaneously remaining “user-friendly” to Egyptians.

Located inside Sheikh Zayed’s newest hangout spot, Majarrah, Mays Al Karam has a very welcoming atmosphere. We absolutely loved the colourful and super comfortable chairs, not to mention the home-like indoor area and its cosy ambience. If there’s something that worried us a little bit, it would definitely have to be the bottle of ketchup placed on all tables.

We kicked things off with Batata Harra (38 LE) and Lahm Ba’ajeen Halabi (47 LE).  Starting with the batata harra, the potato cubes were far from oily and perfectly cooked from the inside, but not so crispy on the outside. Flavour wise, we were definitely missing the bold garlic kick with the spicy chilli we look for in Batata Harra. But overall, the seasoning and the amount of coriander were good.

We were expecting the Lahm Ba’ajeen to be served like a pizza as indicated by the menu, but it came in the form of four arayes-like triangles. As much as we fell in love with the super soft dough and fantastic tomato-meat filling, the dough-to-filling ratio was a bit off. We couldn’t feel the presence of the filling due to the double layers of the dough.

Moving to mains, we opted for the Friik with Kafta Intabli (98 LE), and the Tableya Shish Tawook (80LE). Let’s just say that the mains were FLAWLESS.

The friik was perfectly cooked, and mixed with roasted almonds that add a terrific crunch and flavour.  The dish was then topped off with three super juicy and perfectly seasoned skewers of kofta which had a fantastic texture, and was served with yoghurt to bind everything together. 

As for the Tableya Shish Tawook, it was also great. This beautiful platter consisted of super moist and perfectly marinated char-grilled shish tawook rolled in super soft Arabian bread with pickles and tomeya, and then cut into bite-size pieces. This sandwich was served with well-prepared fries, a hummus dip, delicious pickles, and more tomeya. We would definitely order this again!

When it came to dessert, it was a letdown. We opted for the Knefe with Ashta and Pistachio (47 LE) which looked okay, but we soon realised it was burnt to the point that we couldn’t even cut into it! We had to send it back because it was inedible, and the replacement wasn’t great either. We couldn’t feel the presence of the cream or the pistachio at all, which left us with just bland konafa that also had a minimal amount of syrup.

All in all, we had a good time at Mays Al Karam. Despite the dessert incident and the small flaws in the appetisers, we really loved the mains, the fantastic service, and the comfortable seating. It’s safe to say that they managed to keep things as authentic as possible with crowd-pleasing flavours, portions, and prices. But those ketchup bottle needs to go!