Friday March 29th, 2024
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Dining with the Maharaja

Beer and curry were meant to be together, but there are few places in Cairo that do the both. Luckily, we got to try the authentic Indian cuisine at Ramses Hilton's Maharaja and managed to satisfy our need for spicy food and cold beer in one place...

Staff Writer

Nothing satisfies the gullet of a man more than a good curry and a beer. It sends a juxtaposition of spices and smooth textures vibrating through ones taste buds and into a very satisfied stomach, resulting in a natural injection of melatonin that has one slipping into a post-Indian stupor, relieving all fears and anxieties that plague modern man. Yes, curry and a beer is THAT important and therefore it is easy to see why Egyptian are angry at the moment, and really, quite on the edge. It's because there are no good curry and beer places in Egypt! That is until now...

We had the joy, nay, the honour of dining with the Maharaja last week. Okay not the actual royal King of India but the Indian restaurant in the Ramses Hilton and frankly, we'd take the latter any day. Where the small handful of Indian restaurants in Egypt have failed with either too small or too large portions, being diarrhea inducing, making you full after three bites or not having beer, Maharaja fills all those gaps. It’s an upscale restaurant with reasonable prices whose menu includes an appetising array of traditional Indian dishes. To seal the deal, all the chefs and waiters are Indian too. 

Expecting to rush through everything that arrived to the table until the curry and beer came, we came to a screeching halt when we tasted Mulligatawany soup.  A creamy lentil soup with spiced chicken pieces drowned in it made for a perfect taster of what’s to come and we definitely recommend it.  A variety of grilled meats came next and, although the Tandoori was slightly dry, it still did the job. The spiced kofta on the other hand was A ++. Strangely, we found that we were still not full. The food felt light and clean and thankfully there was enough room for the moment of truth: the beer and curry did not disappoint. We’re still dreaming about the creamy goodness of the Murgh Tikka Masala. The rice came in large bamboo cylinders, which was an interesting novelty. We’d also recommend the Lamb Biryiani which went down just as well with a beer.

Finally, the deserts are a must-try with specialties like fried ice cream that surprisingly, also went down quite well with a beer. Okay, we were pretty drunk by this point, but everything still tasted delicious. Long story short, if everyone just went to Maharaja for a beer and a curry maybe we can avoid all this anger on the 30th.

Find out more about Maharaja and all the delicious goings-on at the Ramses Hilton by visiting their Facebook page here and follow @Ramses_Hilton on Twitter.