New Cairo’s Gӓrten serves up elevated, home-cooked fusion fare

🍴 Comfort food comes in many forms, but few are as comforting as our homegrown dishes and the international dishes we’ve become familiar with. Amongst a slew of new concepts and dining setups, Gӓrten brings back a casual experience that doesn’t sacrifice quality, variety, or atmosphere. The restaurant hits the mark with well-executed home-style dishes and tasteful fusions.

The menu: Gӓrten caters to Egyptian cuisine devotees as much as it does those who like some international flair in their dishes. Their menu (pdf) covers a wide range of dishes, with Egyptian classics taking center stage — from sojouk, mombar, and fatteh to feteer, kaware, and chicken mesahab. Italian staples also find their place on the menu alongside a handful of Asian and European-inspired dishes.

Faced with plenty of tempting options, we turned to our friendly waiter who happily walked us through the restaurant’s sure-to-please picks. Based on his recommendations, we ordered the Egyptian risotto with pigeon, the chicken schnitzel, and a trio of appetizers — belle chili fries, batata harra, and mutabel.

What we enjoyed: Our appetizers landed hot and were everything we imagined. The belle chili fries were perfect — crispy fries, perfectly seasoned chili beef, creamy cheddar cheese, and crushed Doritos. The mutabel was a delicious take on baba ghanoug and the batata harra was perfectly crispy and spicy, though it may have lacked some salt.

As for our mains, the Egyptian risotto with pigeon — a reimagined rice muammar with pigeon — stole the show. The combination proved brilliant — the tajin came generously filled with tender, flavorful pigeon slices in a rich, creamy rice muammar. It was easily the standout dish and one worth coming back for. The chicken schnitzel was another strong, mouthwatering main, arriving with a side of rich red-sauce spaghetti. The chicken breast was excellently crispy, and its toppings were just as delectable.

The verdict: Judging by its consistently full house across its spacious indoor and outdoor seating areas, Garten hardly needs our recommendation. It strikes a sweet spot between warm, homey comfort and an elevated atmosphere. The lively crowd it pulls, however, can make the space somewhat noisy, but that barely took away from the experience. In short, we’re eager to return, and this time, perhaps for their breakfast menu.

WHERE TO FIND IT- Gӓrten has locations in New Cairo’s Lake Town and Trivium Square and North Coast’s Telal.

💵 Per person: EGP 800-1.1k.

🪑 Outdoor seating: Yes.

🍺 Alcohol: No.

🦽 Accessibility-friendly: Yes.