Getting there is quite a challenge, however. Matam Al-Khartoum is located just off Midan Opera in Downtown Cairo, across from Abdeen Palace. Turn left unto a small, nameless dirt alleyway marked by two trees, and at the end of it, turn left. The restaurant is right there.
These useless directions ensured that we wandered all around Midan Opera and Abdeen looking for the restaurant. Medan Opera and Abdeen Palace are a pretty good ways away from one another, and certainly NOT across from Abdeen Palace. Don't follow the Daily Star directions. After wandering for a while, and engaging in a good deal of racial profiling in asking everyone we saw who looked Sudanese where the Khartoum Restaurant was, we found it in the absolutely most unlikely place. The only accurate thing about the Daily Star review was the nameless dirt alley part, near Medan Opera. It truly was a nameless dirty alley. We had checked every alley between Opera and Abdeen, and perhaps the only alley we didn't check because it seemed too unlikely was the alley it wound up being in. I wish I had pictures, the alley truly just looked like a mound of dirt.
We finally made it to the restaurant, where we caused something of a stir. We were probably the first non-Egyptian or Sudanese patrons in a while. We asked for a menu, which felt a little weird. The word "Menu" is used in Arabic colloquial, which is of course from French, who took it from minutus in Latin. Globalization, good times. The menu of course was in Arabic, but handwritten, so it took some deciphering to figure out the characters, only to realize we had no idea what any of the dishes actually were once we were able to read the names. Chagrined.
We went with the recommendations of the Sudanese and ordered Wayka and Aseeda, not sure how it's spelled in English, as well as the Beladi Bitaglia.
But the best dish was the Beladi Bitaglia (LE 5), a lamb stew with vegetables in a peppery unctuous broth. The lamb was so tender you could actually cut it with your spoon. And for those heat-seekers out there, one of the spiciest sauces I can remember was served on the side, refreshing in not only its blasting heat, but also in the fact it remained full of flavor, not succumbing to just plain pure spiciness like many other hot sauces.
I picked around the meat, and the Beladi Bitaglia was maybe the most delicious thing I've had in a long while. I also wholeheartedly agree with the Daily Star reviewer on their side hot sauce, it was simply fantastic. Next time I go back I am going to see if I can purchase some of this sauce in a bottle or something, it was delicious, although not as spicy as they make it out to be. I ordered the Aseeda, which as near as we can tell is Wayka, which is the sauce, and then flour and water mixed together into a gelatinous blob. It doesn't look very appetizing but it's absolutely delicious. Full of flavor from the sauce, and incredibly filling. I think I am very definitely adding Sudanese food to the list of favorites, along with Thai and Indian. I would have put Ethiopian food on the list, but Sudanese food has bumped it off the list, although I am sure Sudanese food has been heavily influenced by Ethopia and vice-versa.
As for the place itself, it was filled with Sudanese men, a few woman earlier in the evening, who left as time went by.
What this restaurant reminded me of, more than anything however is just how vibrant and diverse a city Cairo is. There are so many refugees, immigrants, western ex-pats and Egyptians that the melange sometimes is irresistible. Being able to be a westerner eating Sudanese food in Cairo is just exciting.
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