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

If pizza in Cairo has been unsuitable to your taste buds’ needs, Vinny’s Pizzeria in Maadi is surely a new contender on the scene. Offering New York Style pizza, as well as a refreshing salad bar, the pizzeria, which has sneakily opened underneath Pizza Hut on Road 9, lured us in for further inspection.

Located beneath ground level, Vinny’s is relatively small and sticks to pizza parlour basics; brick walls, simple yellow tables and chairs, and a counter where orders are made and pizza is served. The space is decorated with classic New York pizza insignia on the walls and a large glass window allows patrons to people watch as they munch down on their slices.

The staff were helpful and attentive, aiding us with our choices. Available with all the usual components – pepperoni, vegetarian, margherita, anchovies, et al – you are given the choice of grabbing a slice or a full twelve inch, fourteen inch or eighteen inch pizza. The prices range depending on the toppings, but a slice goes for 10LE-14LE, while the largest ranges 70LE-80LE; everything else falls in between.

We opted for an eighteen inch pizza, half margherita and half with pepperoni, black olives and mushrooms (79LE), a large mixed salad (29LE) and garlic cheese bread (14LE).

Although the staff were pleasant, our food did take some time to be arrive. We were told that the pizza takes 10-15 minutes to be prepared; however, we ended up waiting for well over half an hour. Regardless, the pizza arrived and to call it large would be an understatement; each slice was almost the size of a small pizza. The margherita was tasty with a fair amount of cheese and a nice topping of oregano, while the pepperoni half was equally enjoyable with the freshness of the ingredients contributing to the flavour. The crust is one of the most crucial parts of a pizza and Vinny’s got it right. Thin, crispy and well proportioned, we’re afraid Pizza Mia may have some competition.

Although salads are fairly simple concepts, they are often misguided and crammed with mismatching ingredients. Vinny’s, however, offers simple, yet vibrant ingredients, with a variety of dressings to choose from, making for a good choice on eating healthy. The least enjoyable part of the meal was the garlic bread; while it was warm, topped with a generous amount of cheese, we found the flavours to be lacking in garlic and overall, it was a little dry.

Vinny’s also offers a choice of two decadent desserts; the apple pie pizza (18LE) and chocolate pie pizza (23LE) – both of which would require a big appetite and a bigger stomach.

We keep saying that the food industry is overflowing in Cairo, and wondering how many more of these new eateries the city can take; but as long as the ones opening up are delivering quality food, we won’t complain.