I came here with an Egyptian friend and was so excited to try Egyptian food - I've never seen seen an Egyptian restaurant in any city before. The decor is just what you'd expect - lots of hieroglyphics and busts of gods and goddess and pharaohs and such. When you come in, you sit in the lounge area to order drinks then order food, and then they take your drinks upstairs and lead you to a proper table. That really confused me, but I've got it down for next time. It is owned by Egyptian people, and the servers can always recommend something if you don't know what to try!
The portions are pretty large, so we skipped appetizers. I got the Egyptian Fatta and my friend got the Moussaka. The Fatta is described as "Pieces of roasted lamb meat and toasted Egyptian bread absorbed in lamb soup, covered with Egyptian rice & topped with a garlic tomato sauce," but I perceived it as mainly rice with chunks of tender lamb meat, and loads of caramelized onions on top (yum). The toasted bread absorbed in lamb soup bit, I didn't pick up on at all. Nor was the garlic tomato sauce a very strong flavor component. Overall the dish was mild, but tasty, and not massively different from what you get at other Middle Eastern restaurants. The caramelized onions were the best part, but the dish overall didn't leave a huge impression on me. I tried my friend's moussaka and found it overwhelmingly cheesy. I don't really like aubergine generally though I didn't mind it in this dish - the meat and potato and sauce were all very tasty, but the cheese on top was really just too much for me and I found that disappointing. Otherwise it would be a very pleasant version of moussaka. It was very heavy food! The rice served alongside was fragrant and fluffy.
Afterwards we went downstairs and shared some apple-flavored shisha, £10 a pipe. I'd never done it before and enjoyed the taste, though it made me quite light-headed. But the front lounge is a very pleasant place to be, you can recline on pillows, smoke shisha and drink delicious fresh mint tea, and relax without feeling rushed after dinner. The atmosphere down there is great.
I'd return again to try some other dishes, but my overall impressions were that the food was just all right, but it didn't live up to my expectations. And it was just so heavy! The menu does have some unique offerings though, so I'll give it another try and hope for better next time. read more