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

Famous for its class and glamour, London’s Piccadilly Circus is central to the city’s entertainment area. Cairo’s Oasis mall is home to a large number of restaurants and cafés and has now introduced their very own Piccadilly Station; a concept café and restaurant.

Split into two floors, two royal guard mannequins greet you at the entrance before your eyes are drawn to the big red phone box, novelty traffic lights and London-themed art on the walls. The stairs are adorned with the words ‘mind the gap’, resembling a platform edge, and just about everything is marked with the Piccadilly tube station logo – even the sugar packets, napkins and straw covers. 

Piccadilly Station claims to bring an unforgettable, upmarket, British dining experience to Cairo’s hungry patrons. The menu is vast, offering everything from salads, sandwiches, pizza and pasta to omelettes, grilled chicken and steak. The drinks menu is equally as broad, sporting milkshakes, smoothies, ice-cream floats, hot drinks and sodas.

Before we ordered, we were presented with a delicious shot of fresh guava, watermelon and grenadine; flavours which complimented each other thoroughly and left us anticipating good things. We went on to order fresh orange juice (22.99LE) as well as a chilled can of Pepsi (11.99LE).

To start, we opted for a Piccadilly appetiser (42.99LE); a combination of fried mozzarella, chicken crispers and classic nachos – a choice we almost regretted. The small handful of nachos were crispy, but layered with barely melted, rubbery, grated cheese whilst the fried mozzarella sticks oozed grease, and the chicken was slightly underdone and not as crispy as we’d anticipated. 

For our mains, we went for a double cheese burger (43.99LE) and ‘hopo chicken’ (58.99LE), which was described as ‘grilled chicken with white sauce and mixed cheese’. The burger was a huge, double-tiered creation, complete with crispy salad and well-cooked fries. Unfortunately, the charred beef patty was of decidedly low quality, with pieces of gristle in every other bite. Our grilled chicken was equally as disappointing , covered in a layer of the same, rubbery cheese as the nachos. The side of mashed potato tasted solely of pepper and the vegetables were not only rock solid, but covered in some very potent herbs. Both the mash and the chicken were drenched in sour cream; Piccadilly’s own take on the white sauce perhaps? 

We imagine the British experience would have been added to with some English music, but the evening was dominated by a live, Arabic singer, whose incessant sound checks were left ringing in our ears. In fairness, the singer’s voice was good; it was just a shame that the volume was too loud to hear one another.

Our inner child compelled us to order a sickly sweet Maltesers smash (32.99LE);  vanilla ice-cream with a handful of smashed maltesers and an extra sugary topping of chocolate sauce.

Piccadilly Station has a lot of potential to become an established concept eatery. Our experience was indeed unforgettable, but far from exceptional. We’d maybe return for shisha and the fresh juice, though.