During my 9 days in Egypt, I tried some of the local cuisine. Here’s six of my favourites.

(1) Baladi with Torshi

At Sobhy Kaber Grills, they served the flatbread with pickled vegetables (aubergine, carrots, onions), a spicy salad (cucumber and tomato with coriander), hummus and a cheesy dip as a starter. It was very delicious that I would have been happy had it been the complete meal.

(2) Molokhiya

The green leafy vegetable soup with coriander and garlic was an interesting interlude before the main meal was served at the Sobhy Kaber Grills. The Egyptian rice served with okra in a tomato based sauce and roast chicken was a lovely finish to the lovely dinner I had on my first day in Cairo, at the recommendation of Nour Gaber, my taxi driver for the day.

(3) Koshari

While I had wanted to try Koshari at the famous Abou Tarek Koshari shop in downtown Cairo, I finally got to try it at a café in Khan El Khalili bazaar.

Considered the unofficial national dish of Egypt, Koshari is a tasty mix of carbs – rice, pasta, fried lentils, onion flakes and tomato sauce.

(4) Falafel Sandwiches:

I was not much of a fan of falafel before, mainly because the ones that I had tried earlier had been made of chickpeas. However, from the first time I tried falafel in Cairo, I enjoyed it very much. The Egyptian falafels are made of fava beans.

Also, on our tour, our guide organized falafel sandwiches for lunch whenever we were traveling through the day with limited time to stop for lunch at a restaurant. Therefore, I associate falafel sandwiches as the flavor of this trip.

I haven’t taken any photo of the falafel sandwiches because all the times I had them had been when I was too hungry to bother about taking a photo first.

(5) Ful Medames

I tried Ful on the felucca cruise, when they served it for breakfast. Again, I forgot to take a photo but the cooked fava beans was great with the flatbread and boiled egg.

(6) Konafa

On my last morning in Cairo, I had asked Nour to take me to El Abd bakery so that I could get some traditional sweets to take back home. It was there that I first tried out the Egyptian Konafa which has a creamy layer in the middle. Previous Konafa I had tried in Jordan was more crispy without any creamy filling. At home, my mother also seemed to enjoy the Egyptian Konafa very much.

Photo credit: Cairo 360

Which of the above have you tried?