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

Restaurants
The Smith

The Smith: Good Food, Good Atmosphere at Hip Heliopolis Hangout

  • 3 Samir Mokhtar Street, Ard El Golf, Heliopolis
  • International
reviewed by
Omar Yousry
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The Smith: Good Food, Good Atmosphere at Hip Heliopolis Hangout

Making sure every dish coming out of the kitchen has a persistent quality to it for a long period of time is no small feat as maintaining a level of quality is a hard thing to do, many restaurants have failed the test of time with a high quality dishes at their opening but steadily degrade into places to avoid altogether later on.

When it comes to the food and beverage industry, quality is possibly one of the hardest things to maintain. Quite often on Cairo’s dining scene, for example, it’s the thing that makes or breaks a restaurant – and in the case of The Smith, the Heliopolis venue seems to have found the secret.

Located in the Ard El Golf area, the restaurant occupies almost the whole ground floor of the building with a large neon sign outside. With a quirky, vintage British-centric design, the place has everything from half a Mini Cooper on the wall, to the Union Jack plastered on the sofas. It has a small outdoor area, but it’s the large indoor area that captures the vintage atmosphere best.

We started with the Boneless Buffalo Wings (39LE), which came as eight fried chicken wing balls glazed with buffalo sauce and served on a bed of lettuce. A little soggy, but still delicious, the wings had a nice tangy taste to them making for a nice start to our evening.

When it came to the mains, we went for the Beef Stroganoff (90LE) and the London Chicken (105LE). Each dish comes with two sides of your choice; we opted for white rice and mashed potatoes with the beef and sautéed vegetables and mashed potatoes with the chicken.

Creamy and rich in flavour, the Beef Stroganoff was excellent, with the beef itself being tender in texture and slices of mushroom and onions packing a flavourful punch. As for the sides, the mashed potatoes were smooth and made for a decent side, though the rice was a bit dry and unseasoned.

Stuffed with cheese and smoked beef, the London chicken came sliced and served on top of marinara sauce. In addition to making the underside of the chicken very soggy, the sauce was a little too acidic for the other elements.

The chicken itself was well cooked and seasoned, while the beef added a smoky aftertaste which worked well with the sharp cheese. Like with the Beef Stroganoff, the mashed potatoes were great, but the sautéed vegetables were a bit undercooked and were a little too crunchy as a result.

For dessert, we opted for the Blueberry Cheese Madness (60 LE); similar to the Cheese Madness at Spectra, it came as a layered cylindrical cake of crust, cheese and ice-cream, then topped with blueberry sauce and extra pieces of crumbled biscuits.

With a nice contrast of sweet and sour, the blueberry sauce offered a nice sharp backdrop for the smooth cheesecake and melting ice-cream, with the pieces adding an extra crunch, all making for a well-rounded, refreshing and delicious end to the meal.

It seems little has changed since our last visit to The Smith; with good food and a unique atmosphere, this is one restaurant that has managed to maintain quality with minimum fuss.

360 Tip

The Smith is something of a favourite for locals looking to catch a football match on TV.

Best Bit

Although the menu doesn't seem particularly unique, every dish we tried was packed with big flavours.

Worst Bit

Service was a bit slow at the time of our visit, which tends to be the case on busier nights.

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