Felfela

NileGuide Expert tip:

Felfela is a good, safe introduction to traditional Egyptian cuisine.

Description:

• Beloved of tourists and locals alike, Felfela is a Cairo fast food institution. On the right as you head up Talaat Harb street towards the midan, Felfela is a simple, brightly coloured and brightly lit restaurant that offers a whole range of Egyptian street food classics.
  
  You can get koshary (with or without meat), chicken or beef shawerma, different types of taamiya and felafel sandwiches, all sorts of fuul... simply name your staple!
  
  Although it's a bit more expensive than the proper dive restaurants offering this food, Felfela is still cheap, and reassuringly hygienic.
  
  The way it works is easy: you order and pay at the cash desk, and the staff will give you a ticket. (Felfela has menus in English, and the staff speak English too.) You take your ticket to the appropriate part of the restaurant (the staff will tell you where to go if you aren't sure), and swap it for some food!
  
  You can either eat amongst the other customers, standing up at the waist-height counters, or take your food to go. Either way, it's delicious!
  
  Felfela is set right amongst the action of Downtown Cairo. Afterwards, why not head to the nearby Stella Bar, Horeya, or Odeon Palace Bar, and grab yourself a local beer to wash your food down!
  
  There is also a proper sit down version of the restaurant just around the corner on Hoda Sharaawy Street.
• © NileGuide2013

Awards:

Daily News Egypt

•  Recommended Restaurant 2008

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2010