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

With the scorching hot summer weather lurking just around the corner, what better way is there for one to bid farewell to spring’s refreshing breeze than by lounging around in the late afternoon whilst grabbing a light lunch? This is exactly what we intended on doing when we hit up 6^th of October’s well-loved spot, Tempo.

Overlooking an impressively spacious golf course, Tempo manages to emit a homey feel due to its laid back outdoor tables and cosy indoor seating area, which is complemented with bookshelves, a TV set and comfy couches and cushions.

We escorted ourselves to a vacant outdoor table, and were soon greeted by a friendly waiter already holding up some menus. A couple of minutes later, a complimentary bread basket boasting fresh, crunchy crackers, and a spicy cheese dip made their way to our table.

Tempo’s menu is rather concise and to the point covering a few basic dishes like pizzas, pastas, a couple of seafood options, steak and a couple of chicken dishes. On the weekends, Tempo extends its menu to offer sandwiches, salads, soups and a handful of appetizers including Shrimp Cocktail (55LE) and Vegetable Spring Rolls (32LE).

Settling on Creamy Chicken Fettucine Pasta (55LE) and the Allegria Burger (56LE) for our main courses, we awaited their arrival with rumbling stomachs. Twenty minutes later, the dishes were laid before us.

The creamy sauce of the Pasta was quite dense, and a tad lacking in seasoning, but the abundance of chicken chunks did balance that out. The Burger, on the other hand, which came with a side of a handful of French fries, was adequate but not exactly mind-blowing, featuring a basic oomph-lacking but well-cooked mushroom-topped beef patty.

Not feeling quite full from our main dishes, we decided to peek at the dessert menu, and surely enough, we opted for a Tiramisu (25 LE) and a Chocolate Tart (25 LE). Taking another twenty minutes to serve, what both desserts lacked in size, they made up for in scrumptiousness.

The Tiramisu, made up of layers of coffee soaked lady fingers and cream cheese, was light yet decadent, whilst the chocolate tart, which was more accurately a chocolate fondant, featured a hot molten dark chocolate filled cake accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream- our sweet tooth alter ego was, needless to say, definitely satisfied.

On an ending note, we loved the overall ambiance Tempo ever so gracefully carried with its unpretentious simplicity. The food was, admittedly, not the most creative in town, but it was, at the end of the day, free from any tremendous culinary faux-pas. Finally, the service, as well as the view was top notch.