Where to Eat in Cairo: Koshari to Fine Dining (2026)

Cairo eats well at every level, from a paper bowl of koshari wolfed down standing up to a long dinner over the lit-up Nile. The city rewards a bit of adventurousness and a willingness to eat where the locals do. Here is how to eat your way through it. For the dishes themselves, see the Egyptian food guide.

Street food and cheap eats

Start with koshari, the national bowl of rice, lentils, macaroni and chickpeas under spiced tomato and crispy onions; Abou Tarek downtown is the famous shrine to it, several floors of nothing else. For breakfast, find a ful and ta'ameya cart, the fava-bean staple and the green Egyptian falafel, served in fresh bread. Hawawshi (spiced meat baked in crisp bread) and feteer (flaky layered pastry, sweet or savoury) are the other essential street bites. Eat where there is a queue; turnover means freshness.

Local institutions

Cairo has beloved old restaurants worth seeking out: grills serving kofta and kebab with mountains of mezze and bread, Felfela as a long-running, tourist-friendly introduction to Egyptian home cooking, and the historic cafe El Fishawy in the Khan el-Khalili bazaar for mint tea and people-watching since the 18th century. For sweets, a good patisserie for basbousa, konafa and Om Ali.

Nile views and fine dining

For a special night, Cairo's high-end dining clusters in the riverside hotels and the leafy island of Zamalek: Nile-view tables, contemporary Egyptian and international menus, and dinner cruises that put a floor show and the city lights together. The five-star hotels (the Four Seasons, the Nile Ritz-Carlton and others; see Cairo luxury hotels) hold some of the best restaurants in the city.

Practical tips

Eat your main street-food adventures once your stomach has settled in, drink bottled or filtered water, and carry small notes for tips. Many local places are cash-only. Ramadan changes the rhythm: daytime quiet, then the city comes alive after sunset with festive late-night eating. See the Cairo travel guide for where these sit in the city.