Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Pepper Lounge & Grill: the New Taste of New Cairo

We headed over to New Cairo's latest culinary offering and had one of the best cooked steaks of our lives. And just wait until you see what we had for dessert...

Staff Writer

With so many restaurants popping up at such a rapid pace we think you can agree that it’s quite the challenge to keep up with everything in Cairo and find your new favourite place. But we had it on good authority that Pepper Lounge & Grill, which has just opened in New Cairo, are doing things right, so we headed out to The Patio Dining Hub to see if they were correct. And they certainly were.

When we got there, we were immediately greeted by a really friendly staff all of whom spoke English perfectly.  Hoping that the front of house reflected what goes on in the kitchen, and surrounded by modern black and red interiors, we were quickly presented with an awesome looking metallic menu and promptly took our drink orders.

Now, we’re really bad at making decisions and this menu seemed to have just about everything. We scanned the pizza menu, the sandwich section, meat section, appetizers, soups, pasta and everything sounded amazing. When reading the pasta menu, we noticed that all of their dishes are homemade and the waiter proceeded to show me the in-house pasta station and bakery. We didn’t know where to begin.

Since the main course is the hardest item to decide on when ordering at a restaurant, we decided to ease ourselves in with the fried calamari. It didn’t take too long for the dish to reach our table and it was beautifully decorated with all the right garnishes and dips. The breading on the calamari wasn’t too thick nor too thin which was great as the balance of the chewy calamari and flaky but flavour-packed breading clashed perfectly with the special spicy marinara sauce - which is made in house.

That plate seemed to have come and gone a lot faster than expected. Regardless, it was delicious and it was time for the mains. We decided to just stick with what we know best and that is a good old fashioned steak. You can tell if a restaurant has good chefs just by the way the chef prepares the steak. We’ve ordered medium rare steak in several places and been highly disappointed as it comes out well done. So essentially, we were testing the chefs at the Pepper Grill & Lounge by ordering their 220gm tenderloin steak , with a side of rice, potatoes and hollandaise sauce.

Like the calamari, the steak was delivered in good time and was nice and hot when it hit the table. It was the moment of faith as we delicately stuck a knife into the tenderloin and upon cutting we were very pleased to see that red center and soft, yet, springy edges. Needless to say it was perfectly seasoned and after one bite, the onslaught began, as all professionalism and politeness was thrown out the window and we dug in.

Despite the steak and all its trimmings hitting the spot there is always room for dessert. We asked the waiter what he recommended and he pointed us towards the direction of their homemade chocolate lava fudge cake and vanilla ice cream. We didn’t even need to look at the dessert menu, we were sold instantly. Leaving us a few minutes to prepare our taste buds, the waiter returned with what looked like heaven on a dish. We originally ordered one to share, but as soon as the first spoon struck the fudgy exterior and the warm, oozy chocolate came running out, we quickly ordered another and devoured the creamy, chocolatey goodness in no time.

Find out more about Pepper Lounge & Grill here.