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

We’ve been recently blessed with new restaurants opening in relatively new parts of Cairo, namely New Cairo and Sheikh Zayed. We often, however, find ourselves missing the experience of heading to Downtown Cairo, and indulging in delicious and authentic Egyptian meals. This is precisely why we have decided to review ‘Taset West El Balad’ restaurant (the restaurant name translates to “Downtown Pan”).

Located in one of the oldest buildings on the sidewalks of Downtown Cairo ‘The Strand Building’, the restaurant is quite unique, as they serve cheesy, savoury platters. The interior design of the restaurant as a whole is relaxing to both the eyes and soul.

As a starter, we ordered the known 7arafeesh Pan (47 LE). The plate is a humongous pan, filled with mushrooms, fried chicken, French fries, bell peppers, and mozzarella cheese. Honestly, the only components that were obvious, in terms of flavour, were the French fries and the small bits of mushrooms. As for the fried chicken, there were only a couple of pieces that were not at all satisfying nor well-flavoured. Additionally, the bell peppers were utterly flavourless.

We also ordered the Ga3aloni Mogreman Pan (64 LE). The dish was technically supposed to contain chicken rolls, grilled chicken, topped with cheesy potatoes. Sounds delicious, right? Wrong! None of these components actually added anything extraordinary to the meal; indeed, the dish ended up tasting like a regular chicken dish that we could have made at home. Also, the cheesy potatoes tasted weird, to the extent that we thought someone had placed an egg yolk on the top of the dish! We asked the waiter if it was yolk, but he insisted that it was just potatoes and cheese.