Cairo Street Food
Being in Cairo, Egypt will leave you with a lot of options to roam around but one of the most important parts of travelling in Cairo is to experience the culinary options. There are a variety of Cairo street foods which can make you leave craving for more.Cairo is a great place for those who are budget travelers. Contrary to the popular belief, it is not just the place where you can find non-vegetarian food items but it has a lot of options for the vegetarians as well.
The Top 5 Cairo Street Foods Include:
• Taameya - original version of falafels with chickpea fritter• Hawawshi - traditional baladi bread with flavorful mixture of minced meat, vegetables, and various spices
• Kebda Eskandarani or Alexandrian liver - beef liver with spicy seasonings
• Shawarmas - slow cooked lamb, turkey, chicken, beef
• Kushari - dish of rice, pasta and lentils
Popular Cairo Street Food & Restaurant
The Egyptian delicacies that you can find as Cairo street food are plenty and here is a list which you must try while in this city:• Diet Bread
Bread is a staple Egyptian food. Aish Baladi is one of the most common breads that you will find here which is made from barley and wheat. This rich in carbohydrate food is commonly found with almost every food you order in Egypt. Arabic bread is consumed with almost every set of meal. There are thick loaf breads which are solid and heavy and also nutritious. They are used for making sandwiches and are priced at 0.05 US dollars for the breads the sandwiches are around $0.17 to $0.34.
Try at – all across the city
• Egyptian Sandwiches
They can be found almost all over Cairo and has a huge assortment of fillings with different seasonal vegetables and meat. This is a very sumptuous as well as nutritious option and is one of the best choices as a street food for budget travelers. It costs from $0.17 to $0.50.
Try at - Abdullah Bashandy
• Kushari
If you are looking for a bowl full of carbs, Kushari or Koshari is the one to look for. You can, in fact, call it the national dish of Egypt. It is filled with chickpeas, lentils, macaroni, rice fried, onion, tomato sauce, and salt will be available readily almost all over the place. In the capital city, this is a true Egyptian meal and you must not miss. It costs around $0.84 to $1.68.
Try at - Sayed Hanafy
• Falafel
All over Middle East, you can find Falafel as one of the typical dishes. However, as a Cairo street food, it has its own version which uses dried fava beans instead of dried chickpeas. It also contains a mix of cilantro, parsley and dill. Sometimes, the fava Bean balls are cooked over sesame seeds and is one of the most fulfilling foods that can be found almost everywhere in the City. Price costs from $0.17 to $0.50.
Try at- Abdullah Bashandy, and all across the city
• Tahini
It is a typical Egyptian sauce that is made from ground hulled sesame. It is given as a complementary sauce with bread or sandwiches. It generally costs$0.17 to $0.50.• Mahshi
This is also a typical Cairo street food and is cabbage roll stuffed with spicy Egyptian rice. It costs around 0.84 dollars.
Try at - Om Dahab
• Egyptian-style Shawarma
Layers of meat can be seen rotating on a stick and is slow roasted on roadside stalls of Cairo. These thick meat rolls are slowly roasted and the cooked outer layer is cut off and used in the Arabic breads for the rolls which can make a sandwich. It costs around $1.18.
Try at - Abou Haidar
• Roasted chicken
One of the most popular street food options is Rotisserie chicken which are cooked in their own juice and kept in a cabinet of flaming high heat. It costs around 3.36 dollars and is indeed a delicacy.• Kofta kebab
This is a very favorite dish that is loved by travelers from all across as a Cairo street food. It is usually made with minced lamb and has a lot of spices cooked and stressed on metal skewers and then grilled over hot burning coals. You might find it is similar to that of an Egyptian style ambrosial sausage. It costs around 2.27 dollars.
Try at - Sharia Hoda Shaarawi Street
• Halaweyat
This is a pot full of lamb meat that is cooked in its own fat. You can get it in the form of sandwich that is filed within the Arabic bread. It costs around $0.68 to $0.84.• Molokhia
This is a slimy paste made from the minced jute leaves and has a broth you can find it along the roadside eating stalls.
Try at - Siwa Oasis
• Egyptian pizza
Do you know that you will find no tomato sauce in Egyptian pizza? It is actually a stuffed Pizza which has chicken cheese and pepper and is placed within the breads which are a perfectly golden brown dough. It costs around $4.20• Hawawshy
This is a dish of which have minced onions and lamb inside Arabic bread wraps and then roasted in a wooden oven. It is often one of the first foods that you will have when you visit Cairo. It costs $1.
Try at - Old Cairo’s El Refaey
• Mihallabiya
This is basically the milk pudding but an Egyptian version. It costs around $0.34 to $0.84.• Mombar Mahshy
These are Egyptian sausages which has spicy rice as their stuffing and is one of the tastiest foods on the streets of Cairo, which costs around 0.34 to 0.84 dollars.
Try at - Sharia Hoda Shaarawi Street
• Basbousa
If you are looking for a sweet dish, this is one of the Cairo Street foods to try. It is a sweet cake which is made from semolina flour and you can find it all across the capital and also in the other cities of the country. For an entire plate, it can cost around 0.84 to 1.68 dollars.• Tea
This is probably the most common beverages that you will find in Egypt and definitely in Cairo. It is served in glasses which does not have handle.
See also Special Drinks in Egypt
• Ahwa Egyptian coffee
This is a spiced coffee which is extremely popular in Cairo and is about 0.34 to 0.68 dollars.