Cairo Street Food

5 dishes in Egypt

5 street foods from Cairo, Egypt: Feteer Meshaltet, Balah El Sham, Asab, Termes and Betengan Ma'li. Each one has its own page with the story behind it and what to look for.

Street foods of Cairo

Layered Pastry · Bakery Stall Feteer Meshaltet Skilled feteer makers stretch the dough by spinning and flipping it in the air, like a pizza maker, until it's thin enough to see through. Feteer meshaltet is a pastry of paper-thin dough layers brushed with ghee, stretched by hand, then folded and baked until it puffs into dozens of crisp, buttery sheets. Cairo's feteer… 🍯 Fried Dessert · Syrup-Soaked Balah El Sham (Fried Choux Pastry) Its name means 'dates of the Levant,' even though it contains no dates at all — the name refers only to its date-like shape. Balah el sham is a choux pastry piped into short logs, deep-fried until the outside turns crisp and golden, then plunged straight into cold sugar syrup so it drinks in the liquid while… Street Drink · Press-Crushed Asab (Sugarcane Juice) The juice is pressed to order in a hand-fed roller press right in front of the customer — the drink starts losing its flavor within minutes, so… Whole sugarcane stalks are fed through a hand-cranked or motorized roller press, and the sweet green juice runs straight into a glass. Cairo's asab stands, easy to spot by their piles of… Snack · Salt-Cured Termes (Salted Lupini Beans) Raw lupini beans are mildly toxic until they've been soaked and rinsed in changes of water for several days straight — the entire snack exists… Termes vendors sell yellow lupini beans by the paper cone or small plate, scooped from buckets of brine along the Nile corniche and outside cinemas and parks. Egyptians pop the beans from… 🍆 Sandwich · Fried Cart Betengan Ma'li (Fried Eggplant Sandwich) The dish gets its kick not from a hot sauce but from da'aa — a raw garlic, chili, and vinegar paste pounded fresh at the cart and spooned straight… Rounds of eggplant are shallow-fried until soft and golden, then layered into fresh baladi bread with tomato, tahini, and a spoonful of sharp da'aa sauce. Cairo street carts fry the slices…

More of Egypt

• Alexandria4
• Upper Egypt (Luxor & Aswan)4
• Sinai & Red Sea Coast4
• Nile Delta (Tanta & Damietta)4