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

After months of hype, Mall of Egypt finally opened last month in spectacular fashion. But the majority of shops and venues are yet to open, leaving the food court as the most active area, next to which we found a new Abu Auf branch and decided to stop by for  quick shopping trip. Whenever someone mentions Abu Auf, all we think is nuts and dried fruits, despite also offering everything from and pickles, to flavoured honey.

As a venue, this isn’t their biggest branch; but it uses its space well and everything is displayed in an organised manner. On the left, there’s a fridge that has soft drinks, mineral water, all kinds of dates and small containers filled with dried fruits and Abu Auf’s nuts and dried fruit mixes. There’s also the nut display on the right, which contains all kinds of classic nuts and flavoured ones, too.

As for lesser-thought-of products like pickles, chia seeds, quinoa, and much more, they’re placed on a wall with shelves next to the cashier. Surprisingly, the centre piece in the middle of the shop was carrying local brands, not any Abu Auf products. 

One of the newer products on offer are the nut butters, of which we just had to try the Almond Butter (260LE) and the Peanut Butter (80LE). Despite the scary price for a ½ kilo jar, the almond butter has a thick consistency with tiny bits of almonds which added an intense and bold flavour. We used it in making a smoothie bowl and it gave it a perfect the smoothie consistency, while the almond bits surprisingly survived the blender.  

Meanwhile, the peanut butter had pretty much the same consistency and texture. Flavour wise, it tastes like pure peanuts, which is a good thing if you’re cooking with it or making a dessert. However, if you’re looking for the typical supermarket kind, this considerably healthier peanut butter won’t be your first choice for your morning toast.

We couldn’t leave without grabbing Smoked Almonds (50LE for 125 grams) and Trail Mix (81LE for 280 grams) to munch on for old time’s sake. The highly addictive smoked almonds boasts one-of-a-kind crunch that has intense salty and smoky flavours which makes it perfect top to it on a boring salad for more interesting flavours. 

The same goes for the trail mix which consists of blueberry, walnuts, raisins, cranberries, peeled pistachi, and almonds. The mix had terrific diversity of textures and flavours that makes it a flawless party snack. We also topped the smoothie bowl with it – see our handy work above. 

All in all, the new nut butters were great, the products in the new branch are well displayed, and we love how Abu Auf are keeping up the top-notch quality of their products – but we definitely need to ask a big raise to shop there regularly.