Abou Sid

You do not come to Egppt, well at least Cairo, for the food.

I did plenty of research and then had a few friends recommend Abou Sid.  Classic old school vibe with Egyptian infuenced food.  Unfortunately Josh was so exhausted from jet lag that he bagged dinner and slept right through it.  He didn't miss a thing. 

Each table has a sunken metal tray in the middle to place anything meant to be shared.  A lazy Susan that doesn't move.  Its dark and certainly Middle Eastern in feel.  Lights dangling with glass from the ceiling with water pipes available for your table.

Appetizers
We began with an appetizer platter.  An array of the house faves.  Tahini, pureed eggplant, dry pita bread, grape leaves stuffed with a meat rice mixture and more lima bean falafel.  Nothing good here.  Tahini was sour , eggplant was inedible, grape leaves were actually more interesting than normal grape leaves and the falafel was tasteless.  Also we had to go through five choices on the wine list before we found something in stock then we all grimaced when taking our first sip. Stick with a cocktail like straight scotch.

Lamb
We also had lamb which is like having tiny deep fried lamb meatballs.  Not my thing.  It was recommended on Four Square.

Chickenwalnut
Dinner was a bit better. I had chicken with walnut sauce that read "a very old recipe".   Thin strips of white meat chicken layered over a mound of white rice and doused with a thick walnut sauce.   Not bad.  A tad rich but a nice taste.  Tastes better than it looks.

Chickenonions
Em had the pan fried chicken with onions and peppers.  Reminded me a little bit of a bad Chinese dish chicken dish.

Veal
Fred went with veal and orzo tangine.  He liked it.  I didn't. 

Shrimp
Jessica had shrimp tangine which was garlicky and had a strange mixture of spices.

Dessert was not happening.  We are exhausted and had had enough.  Good news is dinner was inexpensive and I had just enough cash to pay and leave without waiting around for a credit card transaction. 

Only a day in Cairo and I am blown away by the traffic, the history, the pyramids but definitely not the food.

Comments (Archived):

  1. paramendra

    “Only a day in Cairo and I am blown away by the traffic…” LOL

  2. johndodds

    Its not clear if youre returning to Cairo, but I asked my London based Egyptian friend for recommendations and the word from Cairo is apparently this. Abulsid for Egyptian food, Kebabgy at Sofitel for Nile view & grills, Bodega in Zamalek, Sequoia in Zamalek.. and there’s a nice bar/restaurant called Tabasco also in Zamalek.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Great info. We have left but for people this is perfect