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

Quantity definitely doesn’t mean quality and it’s sometimes hard to find that balance in a restaurant that attempts to offer variety, while retaining a high level of quality. Located in Heliopolis, Truvo has done well to achieve an edgy look, with large, bold letters at the main entrance and modern-styled wooden chairs cushioned with grey fabric etched with their own design in white and shades of grey.

The venue boasted a ‘U’ shaped terrace that was almost – aside of two tables – completely packed with guests at the time of our visit, while the indoor dining area was almost completely empty – so we decided to take our seats inside.

Serving what you would call international cuisine, the menu is filled with well-known dishes like cordon bleu, as well as lesser-known ones like the Fillet Diane; so we decided to be adventurous and ordered the Truvo appetiser (40LE), and the Chicken house (63LE) and Fillet Diane (92LE) as our main dishes, with the Mix Berry (25LE) and Mango Milkshake (26LE).

Thirty minutes later, the appetiser arrived along with our drinks; the Truvo appetiser came as two fried mushrooms, two chicken strips, two mozzarella sticks, four fried cheese balls  and four spring rolls alongside three sauces; honey mustard, thousand island and barbeque sauce.

With a mix of everything, the mozzarella sticks had a satisfying crunch and a melted cheesy interior, however that’s where ‘the good’ ends and ‘the bad’ begins; the chicken strips had a breading that crumbled completely as we sliced into them and the cheese balls were too salty.

The spring rolls, meanwhile, were too oily; two of them were stuffed with beef, while the other two had vegetables which turned brown and had an oily aftertaste. The biggest issue we had, however, was with the undercooked, unseasoned fried mushrooms, which, not only tasted awful, but had a crumbled exterior and served with the toothpicks still in them.

As for our drinks, the mango milkshake had potential with a great, refreshing mango taste which was unfortunately watered down, while the mix berry had a mix of strawberries, blueberry and milk, with the strawberry being the dominant flavour; the milk was almost non-existent and a only a hint of a blueberry aftertaste could be detected.

A few moments later, the main dishes arrived; the Chicken House was a large piece of fried chicken topped with melted mozzarella, small pieces of mushroom and garlic and served with white rice and mashed potatoes. The chicken itself had a crumbly exterior – yet again – that could easily be detached from the tender chicken interior as we sliced into it, the melted mozzarella worked well with the fried chicken giving it some much needed flavour, albeit making it  very dry.

The mashed potatoes were bland, lumpy, undercooked and cold, while the rice –which was Egyptian white rice – on the other hand, was well cooked, but lacked seasoning and was a bit dry.

Moving on to the Fillet Diane, the beef fillet was smothered with a rich and creamy mushroom and mustard sauce with small pieces of mushroom and came with a side of penne pasta topped by white alfredo sauce and cheese shavings.

Cooked well done, the beef had an earthy flavour that worked well with the sauce with a great mustard aftertaste that gave it that extra punch it so desperately needed. A bit undercooked, the pasta lacked sauce which made us use the sauce from the fillet to compensate for it, which was a bit disappointing – and ‘disappointing’ summed up the visit.

The quality of the food, and the experience in general, went downhill from the appetisers onwards, it seemed that, in providing a lot of options in their menu, Truvo can’t match it with quality.