Egyptian food restaurant in Toronto/GTA

slogan said:
Can somebody suggest good Egyptian food restaurant?
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This is quite rare, as "Egyptian food" is effectively commoner or poor man's food. Foul (fava beans), Ta'amaya (fava beans), Koshari (rice and lentils), humous (chick peas), and so on.

The higher cuisine, mainly meats is more Turkish or Mediterranean, including Shawerma, Kebab, Kofta, Lamb and so on. A higher mark up can be had, where as Egyptian food tends to be too simple to cover restaurant overheads.

A good lebanese or Turkish restaurant will cover the regional staples. Foul, being mostly mushed up boiled fava beans is damn near impossible to find as it is simply too simple a dish, as is koshari.

Pigeons, stuffed peppers, also a favourite in Egypt can be found in Greek spots (more likely to be quails) as well as Turkish establishments.

Stuffed grapevine leaves, cabage leaves, or eggplant, also an Egyptian favourite are big in Lebanese and Turkish restaurants.

And the all time Egyptian classic Falafel, a cousin of Ta'amaya is of course found chiefly in Lebanese joints.
 
Tarboosh on Upper James (Hamilton) makes awesome Foul, it's one of my favorites! They have a lot of the basics you mentioned as well...been taking people there for years to introduce them to Lebanese, etc.
 
i would love to find a place in the gta that serves authentic koshari. . .

while it is cheap and filling street food, it was freakin' delicious especially with the hot sauce.

edit: just did a google. apparently there's a place in scarborough called lotus that makes it.

has anyone been? might have to make a trip out there next week. . .
 
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afong56 said:
i would love to find a place in the gta that serves authentic koshari. . .

while it is cheap and filling street food, it was freakin' delicious especially with the hot sauce.

edit: just did a google. apparently there's a place in scarborough called lotus that makes it.

has anyone been? might have to make a trip out there next week. . .
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Koshari differs from region to region in Egypt. Basically it is the poor man's mishmash of any and everything pasta or starchy based, topped with some fried onions and hot sauce.

Personally I found Koshari hit or miss depending on the ratios of pasta, to rice, to lintels, to onions etc.

All my life I grew up loving, what I later found to be the (little known) Alexandrian style; just rice and lintels topped with lemon juice. The Cairo style you probably know of is diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirt cheap in Egypt....literally $0.25 for a heaping bowl!!! That's kind of why no self respecting Egyptian would pay for it at a restaurant. It is basically umi's home cooked food or poor working man lunch time food.

You'll be hard pressed to find a restaurant who does it right and charges fairly in these parts.
 
My friend owns and runs a ali baba at the corner of bathurst and bloor. im usually there in the evenings just hanging out.
Both of us ride.
good shwarma, falafel, and the like.
its a chain franchise but he mixes in his own flavour to the food.
good stuff. tell him Joel sent you. The mortgage guy.
 
awyala said:
Koshari differs from region to region in Egypt. Basically it is the poor man's mishmash of any and everything pasta or starchy based, topped with some fried onions and hot sauce.

Personally I found Koshari hit or miss depending on the ratios of pasta, to rice, to lintels, to onions etc.

All my life I grew up loving, what I later found to be the (little known) Alexandrian style; just rice and lintels topped with lemon juice. The Cairo style you probably know of is diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirt cheap in Egypt....literally $0.25 for a heaping bowl!!! That's kind of why no self respecting Egyptian would pay for it at a restaurant. It is basically umi's home cooked food or poor working man lunch time food.

You'll be hard pressed to find a restaurant who does it right and charges fairly in these parts.
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yeah, it would be cairene koshari that i'm after. it certainly was dirt cheap as i remember it, but still one of the best fast foods i've ever had.

i'd also love to find om'ali in the crockery bowls, basturma at an affordable price, and even fesikh. . .
 
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afong56 said:
yeah, it would be cairene koshari that i'm after. it certainly was dirt cheap as i remember it, but still one of the best fast foods i've ever had.

i'd also love to find om'ali in the crockery bowls, basturma at an affordable price, and even fesikh. . .
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Um'Ali is rare in these parts. Good luck, if you find it let me know! Basturma, again the Turks cover that market well, but as it is more of a breakfast thing, it wont easily be found at a restaurant. A Halal shop should set you up proper though.

There is a great place if you're looking for an amazing fruit chunk drink with ishta though....Paramount on Dixie, near Eglinton. The rest of the food is more generic....but Ishta is quite classically Egyptian.

In short Egyptian food is kind of like a quilt, pieced together via several fine establishments.

+1 for your Cairene Koshari appreciation.

PS I found me some fresh squeezed 'Asab once, on the east side of town, in a Pakistani hood. Was running $2 / 10oz cup though! A far cry from $0.10 / 20oz in Egypt!!!!
 
Nyx13 said:
Tarboosh on Upper James (Hamilton) makes awesome Foul, it's one of my favorites! They have a lot of the basics you mentioned as well...been taking people there for years to introduce them to Lebanese, etc.
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Group ride for shawarma? Will have to give this place a go.
 
afong56 said:
yeah, it would be cairene koshari that i'm after. it certainly was dirt cheap as i remember it, but still one of the best fast foods i've ever had.

i'd also love to find om'ali in the crockery bowls, basturma at an affordable price, and even fesikh. . .
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Lol you need to come to by my house bro...
My parents are old school Egyptians and they make their own sardine/fesikh/meloha every once in a while!
Another good Arabic food joint is Jerusalem if you haven't been, give it a go!

I find what most people refer to as shawerma/kebob is nothing close to the real thing I ate back home.
Another one of my favorites would be hawawshi and all the things that awyala mentioned...
grape leaf rolls, stuffed peppers, foul, ta'mia, etc...
 
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awyala said:
Um'Ali is rare in these parts. Good luck, if you find it let me know! Basturma, again the Turks cover that market well, but as it is more of a breakfast thing, it wont easily be found at a restaurant. A Halal shop should set you up proper though.

There is a great place if you're looking for an amazing fruit chunk drink with ishta though....Paramount on Dixie, near Eglinton. The rest of the food is more generic....but Ishta is quite classically Egyptian.

In short Egyptian food is kind of like a quilt, pieced together via several fine establishments.

+1 for your Cairene Koshari appreciation.

PS I found me some fresh squeezed 'Asab once, on the east side of town, in a Pakistani hood. Was running $2 / 10oz cup though! A far cry from $0.10 / 20oz in Egypt!!!!
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thanks for the tips!
 
2live&ride said:
Lol you need to come to by my house bro...
My parents are old school Egyptians and they make their own sardine/fesikh/meloha every once in a while!
Another good Arabic food joint is Jerusalem if you haven't been, give it a go!

I find what most people refer to as shawerma/kebob is nothing close to the real thing I ate back home.
Another one of my favorites would be hawawshi and all the things that awyala mentioned...
grape leaf rolls, stuffed peppers, foul, ta'mia, etc...
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Kawawshi (Egyptian dialect) or Lamalajun (Turkish) or properly pronounced in regular Arabic Lahma (meat) + La3jeen (dough), is a minced meat pizza also found among fine Turkish spots and some Syrian spots, but mostly Turkish in the GTA.

Might be worth a (restaurant-crawl) one day to check all these items off your list!
 
For Om 3ali, you got to try sequoia lounge in Scarborough, next to the Tim horton warden/Lawrence. You may also try fetat shawarma (fatta chicken and rice). It is a shisha spot so if you mind the smoke then don't go. Om 3ali is awesome there.

As for koshari, good luck finding a decent spot. Home made is not as good as street koshari in Cairo but there is nothing comparable in Canada, unless you have new comers at home. There was one spot at vp an ellesmere but went belly up over 10 years ago. If you find something let me know. The lotus is a minute walk from sequoia.
 
Yaay hopefully u guys r Egyptians too. Oh I would do anything for some koshari right now haven't had that for ages !! Lol
 
ScorpioCBR16 said:
Yaay hopefully u guys r Egyptians too. Oh I would do anything for some koshari right now haven't had that for ages !! Lol
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Born here, nusnus. But feel like I'm 100%....oh and go team Morsi! hahahaha

Asab, Shisha and an evening on a bridge on the Nile with family and friends...can't be beat!
 
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