Imagine a French patisserie had a baby with a Brooklyn coffee house, and you'll kind of understand what One More has to offer. We speak co-founder Reem Hayati about the taste explosion that's recently hit American Plaza.

Staff Writer

Mar 20, 2015

Cookies and brownies and cheesecake, oh my! We caught a whiff of a brand new pastry café that’s recently been getting rave reviews amongst the sugar-addicted citizens of the city and naturally, our curiosity was instantly piqued. And by curiosity we mean our taste buds. The rather aptly named One More opened in in Americana Plaza a few months ago, serving up dough-fuelled delicacies designed to – what else? – have you constantly repeating the mantra of many a sweet tooth; “umm...I’ll just have one more…”

The chic eatery is essentially an upscale pastry café, but it abandons those average, repeated items we’re so used to being offered at cafes everywhere and instead opts for treats with a twist. Instead of your standard basic brownies (which, we might add, like 1% of dessert spots in Cairo even manage make well), One More goes for white brownies with chocolate chips. Your average New York strawberry cheesecake (which, again, we have yet to find a place in Cairo that gets it right) is instead mini squares; three layers of Belgian chocolate brownie topped with cheesecake topped with raspberry cream. Say whaaaat? “When we were coming up with what to include on the menu, I felt like everywhere you go now, it’s the same stuff,” explains head chef and co-founders, Reem Hayati, “So our thinking was how do you create unique pastries?” And, well, they nailed it. From cherry crumble tarts to the beautiful babies that cakes and cookies made, aka whoopee pies, One More goes out of their way to make classic creations that aren’t so classic; “You’ll find uniqueness in a lot of the line-up items we serve,” Hayati says simply.

But true to form, they aren’t limited to pastries. “We wanted something that would address a need in Cairo. Something that was missing in the city. So we thought, okay what is it that we don’t really have as a combined experience in terms of cafes?” One More broadens the scope of dishes they whip up, expanding to a whole café experience with soups, salads, and sandwiches. “Whatever else we serve still compliments the pastries,” Hayati explains, “We wanted to stay true to the pastry concept while still giving indulgence and creativity to our items.” So instead of your bakery basics, they have croissants loaded with whatever you select, they have things like creamy potato soup with caramelised beef bacon, and for all those pretentious omg-I-was-a-vegan-for-six-months eaters out there, the spot even boasts quinoa salad. Now, we may have our reservations about anything involving quinoa just because it’s just so damn pretentious and vegan as a food (like, what’s wrong with a good ol’ cheeseburger?) but we’ve recently tried it an been reluctantly converted to quinoa lovers, plus the fact that One More’s version has dried blueberry and cranberry and a mix greens and coloured bell peppers and looks downright amazing. Okay, so we’re quinoa converts, so sue us.

They make their own pasta, bake their own bread and get creative with everything. It’s kind of Parisian pastry crossed with Brooklyn eatery. Think Paul if Paul bothered to get inventive with their dishes. “When it comes to recipe creation, this is where I get my adrenaline rush,” Hayati says with a laugh. Evidenced by dishes like her own Hayati salad: roasted pumpkin, grape fruit and caramelised walnuts on a bed of mixed greens, cherry tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes.

Plus today, until Sunday, they’re getting in the Mother’s Day spirit with a mummy-fuelled tree-day event, where they’ve got 20% off on everything, so here’s your chance to indulge at a discount, AND loads of adorable mom-themed dessert goodies that you can get her!