Egyptian Cuisine
Food in Egypt: A Complete Guide to Egyptian Cuisine
Egyptian food is one of the world's oldest culinary traditions — some dishes eaten on Cairo streets today have direct ancestors in pharaonic cooking. The cuisine is built on legumes, flatbreads, and slow-cooked stews rather than elaborate spicing or complex techniques. What it lacks in heat it makes up for in depth: ful medames cooked for hours, koshari layered with separately prepared components, molokhia that takes most of a morning to make properly.
Eating well in Egypt is extremely affordable. Koshari from a kosharia costs £E30–70 ($0.90–2.10). Street ta'ameya sandwiches run £E10–20 ($0.30–0.60). The gap between street food and restaurant food is often surprisingly small — most Egyptians eat their main meals at home or at neighbourhood restaurants rather than tourist-facing establishments.
Food by City
Each city guide includes a dedicated food page covering must-eat dishes, local specialities, and where to eat them.
Dishes to Try in Egypt
Eight dishes that represent the depth and everyday variety of Egyptian cuisine — from street stalls to family kitchens.
Koshari
Egypt's unofficial national dish. A layered bowl of rice, lentils, macaroni, and chickpeas topped with spiced tomato sauce, crispy fried onions, and garlic vinegar. Eaten at dedicated koshari restaurants (koshariyas) across the country. Filling and costs under £E50 ($1.50).
Ful Medames
Slow-cooked fava beans mashed with olive oil, garlic, lemon, and cumin. The standard Egyptian breakfast — served with flatbread, eggs, and fresh vegetables. One of the oldest continuously eaten dishes in the world; evidence of ful consumption dates to pharaonic Egypt.
Ta'ameya (Egyptian Falafel)
Egyptian falafel differs from the Levantine version — made from fava beans rather than chickpeas, giving them a greener interior and earthier flavour. Eaten for breakfast, stuffed into baladi bread with salad and tahini. Fried fresh at street stalls from dawn.
Molokhia
A thick, gloopy soup made from finely chopped jute leaves, cooked with chicken or rabbit stock and heavy on garlic and coriander. Intensely flavoured and an acquired texture. Ubiquitous in home cooking; the dish divides visitors but locals eat it weekly.
Hawawshi
Spiced minced meat — beef or lamb with onions, green chilli, and herbs — stuffed inside baladi bread and baked or grilled until crisp. Cairo's answer to the stuffed sandwich. Found at bakeries and street carts across the city.
Feteer Meshaltet
A flaky, layered pastry — Egypt's own version of a pie — made by folding butter or ghee through dough repeatedly. Served sweet (with honey, cream, or jam) or savoury (with cheese or minced meat). Made fresh to order at feteer shops.
Grilled Fish (Iskandariya Style)
Alexandria is Egypt's fish capital. Fish souk restaurants grill whatever was caught that morning over charcoal — typically sea bass, mullet, or red snapper — and serve it with bread, salad, and tahini. The procedure: buy by weight at the souk, take it to the adjacent grill restaurant.
Aish Baladi
Egypt's round, hollow flatbread — a staple at every meal. Made from wholemeal flour and baked in extremely hot stone ovens until it puffs. Used to scoop dips, wrap fillings, or eat alongside any dish. The word "aish" means both "bread" and "life" in Egyptian Arabic.
Best Cities for Food
Cairo
Egypt's food capital by volume and variety. The best koshari in the country is found here. Koshary El Tahrir in Downtown is the most famous; Abu Tarek in Champollion Street runs it close. The Zamalek neighbourhood has a more contemporary restaurant scene.
Food guide to Cairo →Alexandria
The fish capital of Egypt. The souk at Anfushi sells the morning's catch; adjacent grill restaurants cook it immediately. Seafood mezze — tahini, baba ganoush, stuffed vine leaves — eaten alongside grilled fish on a Mediterranean terrace is Alexandria at its best.
Food guide to Alexandria →Luxor
A smaller food scene, but Luxor's Sofra restaurant is one of Egypt's best — traditional Egyptian home cooking served in a 1930s house. The West Bank side of the river has simpler, cheaper options popular with local workers at the Valley of the Kings sites.
Food guide to Luxor →Explore the food scene city by city
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