32 Best Restaurants in Egypt

If you’re not already spending a night or two at the Marriott Mena House, start your Giza day trip an hour earlier, and treat yourself to a high-end Pyramids-view breakfast at this restaurant within it. Options in the expansive buffet spread, served from 6 am to 11 am, include international items, and there are both indoor and shaded outdoor seating areas.

Ebn El Balad is the mixed grill half of the Ebn El Balad–Ebn Hamido restaurant duo sharing the same waterfront space near Gleem Bay. The maritime-meets-traditional-Egyptian decor is comfortable, classic, and unassuming. When you enter the restaurant, take a right if you're in the mood for mixed grill (the stuffed pigeon and vegetable tagine are both especially good) or take a left if you'd prefer fresh seafood (try the grilled sea bass with potatoes). Whichever you choose, you're in for some of the best fresh food on the Mediterranean.

Candlelight and live traditional music make the dining room here romantic, and the menu highlights the varied cuisine of India. Choose from entrees such as the rich palak paneer (homemade cottage cheese in spinach) or the flavorful fish curry featuring sea bass; sides include several type of naan as well as fragrant biryani (saffron rice with chicken). Top off your meal with a refreshing kulfi (dense, Indian-style ice cream) for dessert.

On the rooftop terrace of Le Riad Hotel de Charme, Zeeyara serves modernized Egyptian dishes, including a remarkable assortment of hot and cold mezzes and soups and specialties such as boneless stuffed pigeon or lamb with rice, mixed nuts, peas, and cinnamon—a must-try even if you're not a fan of lamb. Desserts are also delicious, and the mocktails are worth a try.

Step back into an elegant era beneath the Venetian crystal chandeliers of the dining room at 1886, where you'll feast by candlelight reflected on the heavy silver plates and thick linens. Dishes are French-inspired, and the menu has quite a bit of seafood. Formal wear is required: cocktail attire for women and suits and jackets for men.

Don your best outfit (casual wear isn't allowed) and have a seat in the red-and-white, keyhole-arched dining room, originally opened in 1902 for dignitaries to celebrate the inauguration of the Aswan Dam. The atmosphere is unforgettable, and the French-inspired menu is heavy on seafood.

Although the decor is pure Arabian, the cuisine is authentic Lebanese. Fresh bread makes a nice accompaniment to the delicious soups, stews, grilled meats, and hot or cold mezzes.

Here, you can feast on Egyptian-style seafood, priced by weight and cooked to perfection, without having to visit the coast. The ordering process is streamlined: make your selection from the display, choose how you'd like it prepared (fried, baked, grilled, simmered in a clay tagine), head to a table, and wait for it to arrive. The butterfly shrimp and fish roe batarekh (tagine) with cream are both highly recommended. Prepare to get messy—most Egyptians eat their seafood by hand.

Overlooking Qarun Lake, this restaurant in the Lazib Inn Resort & Spa has a cozy, eclectic lounge and serves Egyptian and international cuisine, all prepared with fresh-from-the-garden ingredients. Consider trying one of the Fayyumi dishes; the pigeon is especially noteworthy.

The signature restaurant of the Four Seasons, Byblos serves excellent Lebanese and Syrian dishes that you can mix and match depending on your mood or order as a prix-fixe. Start with a selection of hot and cold mezze, then try sheikh al manshee (eggplant stuffed with minced beef and tomato sauce) or kebbeh bel laban (lamb meatballs smothered with yogurt sauce and mint). While the restaurant is beautiful and the food is delicious, it's not necessarily the best bang for your buck.

Probably the most unusual restaurant in the northern Sinai, this is to the eye a ruined medieval castle on a bluff above the Sinai Coast; however, it was built from scratch starting in the late 1990s by architect Hany Roshdy. Eat in the stone-and-wood interior or on the terraces, which have magnificent views. The menu focuses on traditional slow-cooked dishes, including melt-in-your-mouth lamb shank or skirt steak. Since these dishes take a while to prepare, it's best to book at least a day in advance—to ensure the food is perfect. There's a pool on-site, and the set price includes time for lounging and swimming.

Step off the pedestrianized market street and into this small restaurant for fresh seafood. Take your pick of the catch, and the staff will tell you the price and cook it how you like it.

Delices Patisserie is a great place to pick up traditional Egyptian pastries or stop in for a snack, a drink, or a quick bite. If the weather is nice, skip the indoor dining room and grab a seat on the outdoor patio. The fresh juice cocktails are delicious and the location is prime for people watching.

Don't let the stained tablecloths at this upper-story dining room put you off: communal eats can be a messy business. Standard mixed-grill items share the lineup with less common offerings such as turkey, duck, quail, and rabbit, which must be ordered before arriving. Set menus serve up a choice of meat or fish accompanied by a table filled with salads, rice, and soups like molokheya, a thick green gelatinous soup made from jute leaves.

Popular with locals and busy on weekends, this family-style restaurant specializes in Egyptian barbecue with the country's traditional staple dishes served on the side. The decor is a little kitschy, but the food is delicious, portions are generous, and the staff is friendly.

On the waterfront side of the Alexandria Corniche, this is probably the biggest fish restaurant in the city and sees a regular crowd of locals who know they'll get excellent but simply cooked seafood plus a great view out across the harbor. The catch is priced by kilogram, and rice and salads are included. Choose your fish and ask them to price it, so you know how much you'll be paying. There's also a decent wine list featuring local labels.

One of the most upscale restaurants in Sharm, Fish Restaurant serves a short menu of nouvelle-style seafood, and your food is like a picture on a plate. Popular choices include expertly prepared fillets, calamari, and lobster. The silver service and outdoor terrace out in the mature garden just off the beachfront boulevard let you know that this restaurant is all about image and special occasions, and accordingly, the dress code is casual-elegant. A splurge here is rewarded with a better wine list and more attentive service than you'll find at the more mainstream restaurants.

Although it's not a fine-dining restaurant, the locally beloved Five Bells has been around for decades and blends a nostalgically proper feel with an easygoing, casual atmosphere. You can sit indoors, where there's a bar, but most people enjoy their Egyptian or international dishes outdoors, under a sizable tent with a central fountain that's surrounded by five bells. The doors open at noon, but it's busier at dinner, when reservations are a good idea.

At this haty (grill room), you can order your tender, juicy meat selection with a chopped salad and a choice of dip (tahina, garlic paste, hummus, baba ganoush) for the side of fresh aish baladi (Egyptian flatbread). Abu Ashraf also serves muyyet salata (salad water), a vinegar shot that many Egyptians enjoy before a hearty meal to whet their appetites. You're sure to chuckle at the restaurant’s quirky and gaudy decor, with portraits of the owner on the wall and, most nights, the man himself behind the register.

Kadoura is a nationwide chain that got its start in Alexandria in 1950, and lucky for hungry visitors, it's every bit as good as its reputation. Fish is grilled with a delicious fresh tomato, garlic, and herb purée; calamari come lightly fried, tender, and tasty. Pick your seafood downstairs, grab a wood-block number, and sit upstairs. Everything else that comes to you—salads, tahini, drinks—is included in the price. It's very popular for lunch, especially on Fridays, when space is at a premium.

Dig your toes into the sand at this gorgeous restaurant that's painted in bright colors and dishes up Nubian delights. It specializes in tagine dishes, which are slow-cooked in large clay pots.

It’s hard to decide what's best here—the mouthwatering Egyptian food, the Nile views, the Khedive-style interior, or the excellent service. Indeed, La Tarbouche is one of the restaurants that Cairenes most often recommend to visitors.

The backdrop for the gourmet, Bedouin-inspired dishes at the restaurant in the Remal El Rayan eco-lodge are sand dunes and Qarun Lake. All together it makes for quite a remarkable experience.

If you, like many members of the expat community, find yourself craving a warm bowl of ramen or some fresh sushi, head to this small, casual restaurant. The Japanese chefs prefer using only authentic ingredients, some of which can be hard to come by in Cairo, so menu offerings tend to change.

The sleek, Art Deco–style interior has beautiful mosaic floors and walls adorned with photographs of actors from the 1960s golden age of Egyptian cinema. The food is likewise classic Egyptian; the rice and pigeon tagine and the spicy potatoes with sausage are good bets.

Although it offers delicious seafood, soups, salads, and pastas, Mo Bistro specializes in meat dishes. From juicy, tender flank steaks to slow-cooked beef shanks to bone marrow, everything is expertly seasoned and prepared. Reservations are a good idea on the weekends.

The ultra-contemporary and fashionable Italian restaurant at the Semiramis InterContinental puts a modern twist on traditional trattoria fare using authentic Italian ingredients. Signature dishes include crispy fried calamari and carpaccio with rocket salad and Parmesan cheese.

The outdoor seating area of this restaurant in one of El-Korba's historical buildings offers stellar views of the promenade below and is an especially nice place to dine on breezy spring evenings. Mouthwatering dishes on the Italian menu include burrata pizza, gnocchi, and fresh bruschetta. Although the restaurant accepts walk-ins, reservations are preferred.

While finding sushi and Japanese food isn't too terribly difficult around the Red Sea, finding Vietnamese food—and good Vietnamese food, at that—is a rarity. Saigon serves excellent roasted duck and noodle soups, and it has a good selection of vegetarian options.

Alexandrians swear by this place, and it's packed with families in the early evenings and an older crowd later on. It has surprisingly elegant decor and a magnificent setting next to the water, though the atmosphere can be a little manic as waiters rush around with trays full of food. The menu is wide-ranging, but you'd be best to stick with the Egyptian dishes. The roasted meats make good choices, as do the cold mezze. Try to get a table by the window for fantastic views across the harbor.