Whenever I move into a different Cairo neighborhood, one of the first things I look for is where to get tasty and cheap food. Well, in Dokki it became obvious almost immediately that this winning combination would be found in the neighborhood's two Yemeni restaurants.
Hadhramout al-Yemenand al-Yemeni Restaurant have both gained quite a reputation from Dokki residents. They offer delicious food for extremely reasonable prices (LE60 to LE80 for two hungry patrons) and remain open 24/7 while delivering at all times.
Hadhramout al-Yemen, named after Yemen’s largest province, is a restaurant hidden in a dark, not especially inviting alley just a stone’s throw from the busy Tahrir Street. The wide space is filled with long tables covered by plastic tablecloths depicting oversized strawberries and kiwis.
Fake cherry-laden plastic vines line the side of the room, while the walls are covered with portraits of a smiling Mubarak and a less jovial Ali Abdallah Saleh in golden frames. In the background, monotonous Yemeni television programs scroll across the screen. As soon as you are seated, a waiter approaches your table with a bowl of maraq, a particularly tasty meat broth, a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers and a small saucer of sahawaq, a tomatoes, green pepper and garlic dip.
You’re here for food, so why would they let you starve while choosing from the extensive menu, that has unknown dishes with surrealistic English translation? The first essential thing you need to get right is the bread order. The restaurant, which is also a bakery, offers two types of bread: the crispy, 20-inch rashoush flatbread, or the flatter, softer ratab bread.
Both constitute a perfect substitute for a fork and are delicious when dipped in the saucy dishes. If you are a meat-lover, go for the mandi, a dish typical of Yemini’s Hadhramout region that features a chunk of lamb steaming on the bone. Roughly-cut pieces of meat are laid on a bed of yellow basmati rice mixed with cardamom seeds. If you want to experiment try the selta, a stew with small pieces of meat, eggs, vegetables served with a generous ladle of helba, a creamy bold-tasting fenugreek concoction.
Thesamak tariq al-Yemeni (fish Yemeni style), cooked in the bread oven and traditionally served with the sahawaq paste mentioned above, is also recommended.
Although the restaurant lacks a wide selection of desserts, the maassouba tamr–a kind of fattah with date paste–is pretty good. They also have maassouba with honey, bananas and cream, which seems a bit on the heavy side, but surely tastes wonderful.
The Yemeni Restaurant located on Iran Street in a wide, ceramic paved hall offers similar dishes. Just like Hadhramout al-Yemen, this restaurant has an adjacent room reserved exclusively for women where they can better enjoy dinner by lifting their veils. This Yemeni option offers more expansive vegetarian options and serves a delicious shakshouka with eggs and green beans.
It is difficult to choose one restaurant over the other, as they both serve equally delicious food for similar prices. You may want to choose the closest one to you or try both.
Hadhramout al-Yemen: 8 Mohamed Khalaf Street (next to cinema Tahrir), Dokki, 014 431 9926/ 3762 6796
Al-Yemeni Restaurant: 10 Iran Street, Dokki
