Writing by Julian Nabil and Ola Noureldin

With Ramadan fast approaching, Cairo is preparing for a month of daily feasts and cozy suhoors. Beyond the usual family gatherings, series binge-watching, and late night nibbling, it is the city’s Ramadan tents and suhoor hubs that add a little sparkle to the daily routine of Egyptians during the holy month.

Invest-Gate rounds up the top five places hosted by real estate developers to have suhoor in Cairo this
Ramadan – each with a personality of its own.

Al Hara By Palm Hills Club House

Dubbed Al Hara, for the mere depiction of a typical Egyptian ‘Hara’ through the tent’s decoration, colorful festive lights and numerous food carts, Palm Hills clubhouse, located at 6th of October, has been one of the top notch suhoor venues around the city for several years.

Wooden chairs and tables, as well as some bean bags on every corner add to the venue’s coziness as it is surrounded by food carts serving different kinds of food all the way from the typical foul and falafel to Shawerma. There is also a food cart for grilled corn, a liver and sausage sandwich station, and their signature Zalabya station.

Westown Hub By SODIC

In celebration of the holy month of Ramadan, SODIC transforms their Westown Hub every year into the ultimate hangout spot for family and friends in the Sheikh Zayed Community offering delicious Ramadan treats all month long.

Its various tenants offer guests a place to chill at for suhoor, with a unique edge of hosting musicians performing live at the venue such as Cairokee, Wust el balad, Sharmoofers, and Aida Al Ayoubi. With their Khan El Khalili themed decorations, the hub also hosts Moulid games for an unforgettable experience.

Lanterns At Uptown Cairo

Held at Uptown Cairo’s Clubhouse, Lanterns provides a great laid back atmosphere perfect for lazy Ramadan nights overlooking the golf area, where a vast selection of fetar and suhoor options is served, in addition to shisha, TV screens, and weekend live performances. Lanterns also offers a number of pergolas for those who are looking for a special night.

The suhoor buffet includes a selection of oriental salads, with rice, sautéed vegetables and potato wedges. There are three main stations at the venue; a grilled kofta station, a chicken shawerma station, and an omelet station. For a more typical Egyptian suhoor, there is also falafel, hard-boiled eggs, and a foul cart.

Cairo Festival City

In Ramadan, Cairo Festival City (CFC), owned by Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate, offers a cozy mood for Ramadan hangouts in New Cairo, with a variety of restaurants where people can enjoy quality food and relaxing view of the fountain. It also hosts other fun activities such as Ramadanthemed bazaars.

The Waterway

The Waterway is another vibrant hub that is full of restaurants and cafes, offering people various options of food cuisines. The compound hosts a tent every year in Ramadan, the Meshmesha Ramadan.

To be held for the third year this Ramadan right in front of Starbucks Waterway, the tent will provide an Iftar set menu including a good range of Italian and oriental food.

“Apart from the Iftar set menu, our items are not forced on the customer; meaning we do not force a specific package and this goes back to correctly operating this project with satisfying the customer,” Nabil Rafiek, owner of Meshmesha Ramadan, tells Invest-Gate.

The tent’s attraction includes mega screens for TV series and football games, tawla/board games, tanoura, and balady chairs to revive the Ramadan street vibes.

“Our target client is the fun client, mainly between 18 and 32 years old, willing to sit on ahwa baladi seats and enjoy the vibe. The client experiences the Ramadan vibe without having to fully dress up for a fancy afternoon/suhoor,” Rafiek notes.

The tent’s location brings in high-end customer, coming from the compounds around the area. “The daily number of visitors ranges on average from 140-250 depending on the activities, events, and games.”

Meshmesha Ramadan, joint project with Fogs Egypt, offers the Iftar set menu (EGP 250++) including Ramadan welcome drink, soup, salad, appetizer, main dish, side dish, and dessert. The highest suhoor combo is (EGP 89++) including foul, falafel, eggs, fries, yogurt, and pickles. Their wide range of desserts are between (EGP30 to 50++). Last but not least, the tent serves top notch Fakher glass and Baladi shisha ranging from (EGP 40++ to 55++).

Fel Felucca

Meanwhile, Fel Felucca has been gaining popularity among Cairenes as a unique venue for both its iftar and suhour servings. Dining with live entertainment, modernized ambiance with an authentic essence, Fel Felucca blends all this together in a majestic sailing journey on the banks of the Nile River.

“They have an amazing suhour experience, it is my favorite in Ramadan. They are extremely helpful and dedicated to give us the most pleasant experience. The atmosphere was marvelous, the live music was just awesome and they played the songs that we wanted,” Haitham Essam says.