12 Best Restaurants in Egypt

The Giza Plateau really needed a place like 9 Pyramids Lounge, which is accessed via the Mena House Giza Plateau entrance, where you'll purchase the standard entrance ticket, drive past the pyramids, and be guided to the lounge's parking area. Forego the indoor seating, and head straight to the gazebo-covered outdoor dining area, where you can enjoy Egyptian staples such as ful, ta'amiya, and fiteer while gazing at the majestic pyramids.

Although it's been around for more than 120 years, this restaurant remains a hidden gem, nestled amid Islamic Cairo's narrow alleyways. The menu focuses on Egyptian grilled meats, and a typical order for two people consists of ½ kilo (1 pound) of kebab and kofta, which are always served with fresh local salad, tahini, pickles, and aish baladi (Egyptian flatbread).

You'll feel as if you've entered an Arabian palace when you pass through the portal of this restaurant. The food perfectly complements the decor, with hot and cold mezze and dishes such as moussaka, okra-and-veal-shank stew, and muammar (savory rice with cream)—all of it impressive. Abou El Sid has branches across Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt, but the decor makes the Zamalek location unique.

Perched atop the Nefertiti Hotel, Al Sahaby opened in the 1930s and has been serving incredible Egyptian dishes to visitors and locals for generations. You can't go wrong with anything on the menu, but consider trying the succulent camel meat pot, served with sides of roasted vegetables and freekeh, a grain that comes from durum wheat.

The setting, atop a hill overlooking suburbia and a 20-minute drive from the pyramids, is new, but this Egyptian barbecue restaurant has been in business for more than 60 years. Seated at a wooden table surrounded by stonework, you can feast on mezze, grilled chicken or quail, and the freshest of flatbread—you might even get a glimpse of the women who masterfully prepare it.

The InterContinental's à la carte seafood restaurant has a quiet beachfront location. You can eat under a canopy of fairy lights or in the circular templelike dining room. The entrées span the expected (an enticing seafood platter) to the imaginative (flaky grouper baked in a sea-salt crust or served in Provençale sauce), while the appetizers and desserts, including a formidable tiramisu, borrow influences from world cuisine.

Escape the Downtown bustle with a meal stop at this refuge from the rigors of the market. The menu is a parade of the usual suspects, primarily grilled meats, and the service is good.

Though you'll find decent fish dishes in nearly every Sharm restaurant, Fares is one of the town's best seafood restaurants, with grouper and snapper that's fresh from the Red Sea. This branch is near the Old Market shopping district; there's also a branch in Na'ama Bay.

Seek refuge from Cairo's crowded streets with bite to eat and a drink (alcoholic or not) at this café set in the gardens next to the restored Gezira Palace. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it serves everything from soups, salads, and sandwiches to pizzas and pastas.

With excellent food prepared by Swiss chef Markus Iten, a cozy indoor dining area with a fireplace, and an outdoor terrace with show-stopping views of Qarun Lake, this is the perfect place to fuel up before, during, or after a day of exploring Tunis Village's pottery workshops. The restaurant also offers both pottery and cooking classes.

This eatery on the 11th floor of the President Hotel has several comfortable seating areas and is the perfect place to grab a quick coffee or a relaxed dinner with drinks. You can also enjoy a delicious lunch here, though reservations are a good idea.

Makka serves such local fare as grilled meats and molokheya (a thick, green, often garlicky soup made with jute leaves). As usual, dishes are accompanied by plenty of small plates.