So since I’ve been in Egypt I’ve been extremely disappointed with the food. First day I had Maison Thomas Pizza which was supposed to be the best pizza place in Egypt and it turned out to be very normal. Then I had Lucille’s burger which again was supposed to be the best burger in Cairo and it turned out to be average too.
So last night after work I decided to go all out. I wanted to have Kebab (or kofta whatever they call it here). I was told the best in Cairo was this very local place called Al-Rifai so we took our driver and headed there. We got there around 11PM and it was pretty packed but they quickly cleaned a table for us (with a tissue). When I saw the meat outside and the guy putting it on the skewers I could have puked right there on the spot and the smell of the meat wasn’t helping either. In the end out of 4 of us I was the only one who decided to risk it and eat.
The kofta wasn’t impressive at all. It didn’t have any flavor and I really have no clue why its really popular here. I couldn’t believe I risked food poisoning for something so disappointing. Now I don’t think I am interested in trying anything new, might just stick to fast food which is what I enjoy anyway.
57 replies on “Al-Rifai Kofta”
Thomas pizza might be the worse pizza ! who told u its the best for sure never tried a good pizza before :/
you didnt spend the night at hospital after this kebab meal? wow lucky u
man this guy is giving up after visiting one single place, comeon man cairo is a city that never sleeps, I am sure there is better.
ignore what people on the forum are telling you and ask the locals/you hotel for places to go.
its not like i am giving up on life lol
the food here just isn’t that good. i ordered a burger for room service awhile ago and it was terrible.
out of the alllll the people who went to egypt and i met you are the only one complaining …i would understand the burger wanst good and thomas i never liked it but rifai…..hell no u prob went on a bad day mark
mark why are u ignoring abu el seed? its undoubtedly the classiest and best reastaurant you could ever eat at in egypt and its all authentic egyptian food…
i’ve already been told about abu al seed here by many people but the type of food available there and what hes known for i dont like/eat
Mark: just to clear it out for you … Kabab are the kabab =====
Kofta is the pieces of meat = = = =
Man you are eating meat after 11 why are you doing this to your stomach 😛
according to them kofta is kebab (grinded meat) and kebab is pieces
my stomach is trained to eat anything at anytime. always ready and on stand by 🙂
Whenever I get the urge to devour massive amounts of delicious food I try to go to Lebanon. You should try that.
And now I know why most restaurants taste bad after 1998 here…the evil forces of the sphinxez !
Mark you really should take everyone’s advice seriously on what to eat over there, some cases of food poisoning can go fatal.
Eat Foul, it’s safer :P.
I’ve heard stories on where they bring meat from ;p
Why are you surprised by the quality of the food in Cairo? No one said Cairo is the gastronomical capital of the world. Cairo is like Mexico city, when there, order room service from a 5 star hotel and drink Evian water to avoid diarrhea and vomiting. You were very brave to eat what looks like dog poop on grass 🙂
Egypt isn’t Know for its great food. Try things Egypt is actually Known for. Theres more to life Than food
Actually there’s a low possibility for getting poisoning from eating a well cooked meat. But that still was courageous of you, eating what I would definitely think has donkey meat mixed in it.
Try ABO SHA2RA
especially the mashroom soup
Digestive…
like I said before.. Egypt and Africa as a whole is dirty. I’m confused why you haven’t been poisoned yet. I bet that you will be I’ll in the next few days… Especialy with the crap you’re eating. Be careful.
Mark, I think you should try the Fatet Shawerma at My Queen, its at the end of Gamet Al Dewal Al Arabiya, you can choose chicken shawerma or meet shawerma, or better yet, Both.
the best thing to eat in egypt are veal escalopes they’re the best try the room service ones then venture out
dude seriously i dont know why ppl make sweeping statements like ” —- is the best in Egypt” Egypt is a lot bigger than Cairo, and most of the other places aren’t as chaotic. Luxor has some amazing places as do many other places in Egypt Im sure…
I wont eat this what so ever!
Hmmm.. I’d hate to say I told you so, but I did.
“You were very brave to eat what looks like dog poop on grass :)”
This is what you get after you infest a generation with the mentality thats around. Disrespectful of food, as if people are not dieing already because of hunger of there. You disgust me to the guts nobu.
And I hope that maybe one day, your grand children will live though this ongoing hunger, and will lust to the poo that you just described, sickie.
Who said that was the finest place for Kofta ??!!!!!!!
I can’t even believe that you went to such a place to eat. Believe me, Cairo has got like hundreds of impressive places for grilled food. Some of the finest are in Alexandria.
Seek local foods but at fine places, not in something like that one.
dude! who goes to egypt and has pizza and burgers!??! u gots to have some egeption food! get some good koshari! i can’t remember the names of places but there is one on shara3 il ma7ata in giza that is half the reason i get excited bout going to egypt! oh and u can get good shawerma at this place called abu mazen.. hit em up!
Rifai is ok but its not by any mean the best kofta place in cairo people go to rifai because its cheap and the food is not complete crap for the price if u want proper kabab&kofta go to abou el seed or abou shakra
and u might wanna try goin to another part of cairo actually the area you’re in is not that great simply because its downtown cairo,ask people for proper places to go ,im egyptian i lived in both cairo and kuwait and i have to say i enjoy cairo a hundred times than kuwait and the food quality is the same in both of them but u get a wider range of restaurants in cairo than kuwait though.
Excellent post , and great comments
Egypt and Lebanon ,sorry ,
Once you visit these places you will get food poisoning sooner or later .The level of hygiene in Egyption restaurants including the Hotels is nil and Lebanon also uses alot of Egyptian workers in food service who are not known for their cleanliness
If you want good Arabic / lebanese food go London .
Second best maybe Dubai but then again there is Khanzeer issue especially in Hotels
Best Middle east food is Turkey , any restaurant anywhere is safe , it is part of their culture .
safsafa sharm ilshaikh don’t miss this place if you love seafood. you might find one in Cairo
Mark perhaps you should try sticking to the local and typical Egyptian cuisine. I can tell you that for every single time I have eaten in Cairo, it is the local normal food which I have found to be the most satisfying and far better in quality than the fast food or the commercial stuff found at any of the “name” restaurants. 6a3meeya and fool, Egyptian bread (sand-free version of course) moloukhieh and rice, duck, chicken, and especially kushari. Speaking of kushari, there is a place in Khan Al-Khalili famous for its kushari which is simply delicious (the condiments that go with it are great). Can’t remember the name exactly right now, I am sure someone here will know and supply it if you are interested.
I would also highly recommend you obtaining a supply of “intestinal disinfectants” or other G.I. medications to keep handy just in case. Trust me on this one… Better to be prepared, it’s all too easy to get food poisoning there.
You should flash 10 pounds before asking… otherwise they’ll only recommend the bad places.
Show Me The Money, thats how it works there 😉
Mark you shuld try :
1- chicken filet in McDonalds (i think they call it McFerakh) its amazing
2- ابو السييييييييييييييييييييد
3- المطعم النوبي الموجود بجنب فندق جراند حياة
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8opBQPJj_jI
bel 3afya 😛
Mark Try ABO SHA2RA !!
maaaaarrrrkkkk why dont u go to sequoia caffeeeee !!! my advice to u is to do ur best and go there !! believe me, it;s so cool place , so wonderful view , “clean ” food ,,,,,its really beautiful and classy cool place
i used to visit Egypt/Cairo with my parents when i was a kid. I think last time i visited it i must have been 10 or so. Its been a long time since i’ve been there. Reason why i stopped, whenever i use to go there, i used to get sick, and 9 times out of 10 it was food poisoning. No we didn’t eat anywhere but so called 5star restaurants and hotels. We stayed in the Meridian back then and it was supposedly a good hotel, and still i would end up sick. So the last time i visited, i pretty much vowed never to go back. That was close to 30 years back, with population getting higher and all, could the situation there be getting better or worse ?
I’ll tell you about something that tastes good in egypt. That fried sweet bread called fateer mishaaltit. that’s about the only thing though, Egypt sucks for good food.
Farghali mango juice!! it’s a must,, have u tried it?
1 pound a glass
Yeah I agree! you got to eat some local food such as the Melookhia !
They do it different .. it is gewy (sp) and elastic and feels like mucus or shit !
Man get out of there Now !
I told ya the food isn’t nice over there 😀
You better get out of there as soon as possible.
Mark,
you can’t leave Cairo without trying out Abu El Seid.
Even if you go for sheesha and drinks (fresh mango/guava juice) I’m sure you will enjoy your evening
For best results:
1) Stick to the local dishes. These will be the tastiest if made by the people who invented them! fool, 6a3mya, and Ferakh in Egypt. Mo6abaq semech, majboos la7am (not chicken as the chicken quality here in iffy), moqabalat shamia, pasta/pizza in italy, burgers in America and tacos in Mexico!
2) Always eat at the cleanest place possible. If you are unsure about the hygiene, then err on the safe side!
3) Always ask the real locals and someone who only frequently visits!
4) Never order room service
بالعافيه
Correction — Ferakh — I meant 7amam!
seriously though… koshari!
coffers..
that’s exactly why I dont go to Egypt anymore.
once my food poisoning got so bad I was delerious, talking to myself and to pictures on the Walls of our flat. LOL my temp was sky high, nearly died… Food poisoning is basicaly blood poisoning. You’re body will reject the bad/poisoned food so that it protects your blood from being poisoned from degesting the “food”. In my case my blood was poisoned and I got a couple of injections.
Not once have I been to Egypt without getting food poisoning.
Yuck!! They say lebanon has the same problem but on a smaller scale.
I rather stick to London for christmas and newyears, European alps for febuary skiing, and the USA for summer hols.
LOL dog poop on grass.
I am very careful when it comes to meat (especially beef and lamb). The only food I liked in Egypt was seafood and that was not in Cairo.
In my opinion, the best food in the Middle East is in Lebanon. Even in Lebanon I don’t eat meat just anywhere. If I don’t know the owner personally I won’t eat meat there.
“LOL dog poop on grass.”
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL, that made my day :D:D
-Kiki
“In the end out of 4 of us I was the only one who decided to risk it and eat”
LOL
Welcome to EEGHIBT! ROFL! WTF were you even thinking dude!??!! I mean for for the love of God why dont you just get your rear to a supermarket pick up a damn box of Ritz Crackers with some Kraft cheese. You obviously can’t go wrong there mate!! Well.. maybe you could… if Ritz and Kraft are being manufactured in Egypt!
Lighter side note: Eeghibt vary beeg cantry! Gooz Fooz wiz Kofta and Kosh(e)ri! LMAO!
Update: Just saw the video on youtube.com. Thanks to one of the contributors above for posting that link! I can’t understand, speak or write Arabic for nuts but I got the point!
DAMN… is it true? One of ’em actually slaughtered a mule and passed it as beef? Jeez… Egypt’s gotta change geographically / demographically; more so on the likes of China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand or Philippines!!
man you guys don’t know how to eat the best place to eat is balbaa which is in alexanderia and also kofta is not the same as kabab just so you know and also you didn’t eat at any of the good places in egypt. rifa3i is really good but its location discourgaes people that is why most people get it delivered plus you gut straight up meat from rifa3i not kofta… also try karnivore a lot of different types of meat.
You give up too easily. The best food you will find is not at a restaurant, but at the home of the natives. I was there for 2 months in 2008 and I have many Egyptian friends in America; when you go to their homes it is a feast to be enjoyed. You’ve been given an inaccurate view.
Also, Kofta and Kabab are two different things. Did you try shawarma? And why are you ordering a burger and pizza in Egypt? Hello, try the local cuisine. I’ve been to India and Egypt; the Western dishes are always altered to suit the tastes of the natives.
And as far as the outside stand and everyone getting sick, is this your first travel overseas? We Westerners expect everywhere else to be just like us, when in fact Most places are not like us.
Did you try Kushari? I had it twice while I was there, once in Alexandria and once in Cairo and loved it both times.
Guys,
you ve been to places which are popular on forums and Travl websites.Always ask locals
However, in egypt there are finest food you can ever eat,but if you want the best, you have to pay for it….If you want to eat best “kabab & Kofta” go to “Kababgi” restaurant at intercontinental hotel downtown cairo…best fish “Rossini” and “ElBorg” and “Fish Market”…best Steak @ JW marriot….if you want to pay average,you will get average food…if you need a specific dish please drop mail a mail and I will try to help as much as I can