Uh, this is my favourite time: Let’s talk food! Since we’ve arrived in El Gouna in Jan we ate out a fair bit – not tons, as always, we travel and live a bit on a budget.
Well, El Gouna is not a cheap place to be or eat. What??? But it must be, it is in Egypt you might think. Well, geographically, that is correct. However, as I pointed out in one of my first articles about Gouna, it is very special and quiet and lovely and clean and all that has its price.
So, you won’t find super cheap meals out in Gouna I was told. Being a bit of a cheapskate at times, but still fond of going out for food I just wanted to push my fingers into my ears hearing that. But, it’s not all that bad as I found out when exploring the area. While it is true that you cannot expect a lot of budget options around Downtown or Abu Tig (two very nice parts of the town where there’s plenty of restaurants and bars) you still can find one or the other nice place to eat out without spending a fortune.
Below I put together a selected list of restaurants which I tried in El Gouna. Most of them are in Downtown and Abu Tig Marina. As we all know, our taste buds are different for anyone, therefore keep in mind, this list reflects solely my opinion on the meals and bites I had.
Also, over time and as long as I'm still living in Gouna, I’ll be adding to this list. So, it's worth coming back for seconds! Here comes the menu:
Best restaurants in El Gouna (if you ask me):
La Playa – Pasta, Seafood, Burgers and more
La Playa is a hidden gem at one of the lagoons in Downtown. Located right on the beach next to Pool House, it’s the perfect place for date night, special occasions or just a relaxed dinner out. It’s not the cheapest place, but you definitely get your money’s worth as the plates are well portioned, the quality of food is just divine and the location – maaaan, so dreamy: right on the beach, fairy lights everywhere and if you're lucky you can see a big full moon rising just behind the building opposite of the lagoon.
For starters, Dan and I shared fried calamari which came with a creamy tartar sauce and lemon. The squid was a nicely battered, crispy on the outside and soft inside – just yummie! Chris went for the beef carpaccio which was smooth and delicious as he said (I didn’t try it myself). For mains, Dan had shrimp saffron risotto, I went for spaghetti shrimp saffron and Chris ordered gorgonzola chicken in blue cheese sauce which came with croquettes. We barely talked throughout our second course as we were enjoying food soooo much. My pasta was just al dente as it should be, the sauce was rich and plenty, but not too much. It was all well-seasoned and the shrimps were cooked to perfection. I really couldn’t have asked for more. Dan’s risotto was very similar to my dish – same ingredients, but with risotto rice. He was super happy, too, as well as my bro.
(Fried calamari from heaven with tar tar sauce and beef carpaccio)
(Spaghetti shrimp saffron, gorgonzola chicken and shrimp saffron risotto)
Being amazed by food and location, we also were lucky enough to get the chance to listen to some live music at La Playa. There was a guitarist who sang chill songs in a deep and a bit smoky voice and who also asked us and other guests for song suggestions. Of course, I took the chance and was asking for an Oasis cover of the song Whatever – it was the perfect diner night out.
My favs at La Playa: Saffron Shrimp Spaghetti all the way! If it weren't too boring to go for the same dish I would order it again next time.
Barten – Sushi, service and seriously good cocktails
Another birthday dinner ahead! On my birthday, I decided to have sushi. I love sushi. Sushi is just the best. When it comes to sushi I must say I do have fairly high standards – my first sushi ever I had in Japan when I worked as a snowboard instructor for a season and got addicted to salmon and tuna nigiri. And booooi, it must have been the best sushi in the world over there! I fell in love.
Anyway, lucky for me my birthday fell on a Monday this year. My boyfriend, my brother and two friends of ours went for sushi at Barten in the Abu Tig Marina and on Mondays, they offer all you can eat sushi for 400LE per head which is not a lot considering it is all you can eat. If you really want your money’s worth, just skip lunch keep ordering until you’re full.
As it was a special occasion, we didn’t really watch the money that much that night and had starters at first, then sushi obviously as well as a few cocktails. Our friends Ashli and Stewart brought a big bottle of Bacardi which the bartender would use for mixing our cocktails. (If you plan on having a lot of cocktails at any bar or place in Egypt where they serve local booze, I would always recommend using your own or the “good stuff” if you can, otherwise you’ll get a headache from hell the next morning. Believe me, I’ve been there during our first week in Gouna when we drank gin and tonics mixed with Egyptian made gin.)
So, my friend Ashli, Dan and I started off with a Passion Fruit Martinis – that yellow boozy juice of heaven was just divine! Immediately, I felt Barten is up to a good start here. We then went to something “smokier” which was recommended by the floor manager Joe (fun guy!!!) Can’t really remember what was in it, but I took a video of the making. Check it out – looks super cool!
Let’s talks food finally! For starters, we had a few salads which all of us shared. Each salad came with either beef, little pork chops, shrimp or duck. My favourite, definitely, was the duck salad followed by the one with pork. The meat bits were juicy and just tasted of Japan if you know what I mean! The seasoning took me straight back to a trip to Hiroshima where Dan and I had loads of Japanese salads with sesame dressing y for lunch every day. Well done, Barten! I was impressed already and we didn’t even have sushi yet.
(Shrimp salad, pork salad and a hell lot of sushi!)
From the all-you-can-eat-sushi menu , we ordered a range of literally everything. Maki, tuna, salmon, shrimp and eel, a few vegetable bits, California rolls – the whole shebang. The only thing I must say I was missing was salmon or tuna nigiri. I couldn’t find it on the all-you-can-eat-sushi menu at all. Not sure, why they don't have it. However, everything else which came was really good and very nicely presented, too. The sushi rice was nice and sticky, the soy sauce rich – the plates came with a good portion of wasabi and pickled ginger. As I am no fan of wasabi, I was happy to see that all that green stuff had been put on the side. Some of the rolls came with a splash of some sort of pink mayo (spicy Japanese mayo maybe) – that was nice, but I am not too sure if it was needed or if it might have been a bit more authentic and better without those splotches. Anyway, sushi is my favourite dish of all and Barten surely did not disappoint us that night. Again anytime!
My favs at Barten: Duh, all the sushi!
Zomba – Egyptian Cuisine
Zomba is my go-to place for a late lunch, an early dinner or, quite frankly when I feel too lazy to cook myself. The portions are big, the flavours are rich, the prices are low. So, two mains with one side dish and a couple of beers for drinks can be below 200LE which is around £10 only.
Zomba offers Egyptian cuisine which in general is fairly rich, flavoursome and oily and at times a bit salty. You can’t expect a gourmet plate when you order a bowl of Koshari, Falafel or half a chicken charcoal grilled which is still steaming like crazy when it comes out of the kitchen at Zomba. But you know what you get every time as their staff and/or way of cooking seems to be rather consistent than other places around Gouna we’ve tried and so far. Zomba has (almost) never let us down. However, the only thing I would not necessarily recommend is the kebab as I found the meat came out fairly dry.
(Charcoal grilled chicken plus vegetables and falafel and foul at Zomba)
The restaurant ambience itself is cozy, cute and comfortable. The tables are low and you sit on fairly low chairs or almost sofas which are comfortably cushioned. It’s not date night material I would say, but the perfect cheap and cheerful place in Gouna. Also, staff is super friendly and they don’t mind chit-chatting about Egypt, the pyramids and other stuff.
My favs at Zomba: Koshari, half a chicken charcoal grilled (comes with grilled onions, peppers, a side of rice and a dramatic entrance, see below)
(Dramatic entrance of the charcoal chicken at Zomba)
Malu’s Delhi – Western Food
Malu’s Delhi – oh my god, their salads are just divine! The first time, I went there for a late breakfast where I saw somebody on the table next to us ordering a big mouth-watering bowl of salad. Yes, mouth-watering salad – it looked that good! Malu’s Delhi in fact makes you want to order a bowl of salad. I got a bit jealous when I saw that colourful bowl of healthy goodness on the neighbours’ table, after we just had ordered a sandwich with pastrami, prosciutto, salami, tomatoes, lettuce, sandwich sauce and mustard – to be fair that was a decent sandwich, too! In addition to that we had a breakfast plate which came with a basket of different breads, jam, honey, cheese and some ham. I also had yoghurt and fruits with that.
The portions of both dishes we had were super big. We shared everything and quite frankly these two meals could have fed four hungry mouths. To my surprise, the sandwich did not come on regular thinly sliced sandwich bread, but was rather as big as a footlong sub from subway – just on nicer ciabatta bread. It was crispy on the outside and nice and soft within. The filling was well portioned, too. With ciabatta sandwiches I sometimes find they can get a bit dry, however, the sandwich sauce they put on moistened it up well and the meats and lettuce on it did the rest. It was so yummie and so big that the both of us could eat only half of it. (I might want to mention that it was quite hot on that day, and with higher temperatures my appetite might fade a bit sometimes. Still, it was big!)
Anyway, the other dish we had that day was one of the breakfast plates and it was a gigantic portion, too. There was a nice selection of white and brown slices of bread, some with and some without seeds. The strawberry jam was a bit too sweet for my liking, the fruit and yoghurt was smooth and delicious though and came with a selection of various fruits as well: mixed berries, melons, mango and oranges and apples.
Looking at the menu, I personally find, Malu’s Delhi is not an inexpensive place to eat out, however, the first time we ate there we took the leftovers home and actually had it for dinner, too. So, the prices might look a bit high for someone with a smaller wallet, but it’s definitely worth for what you get.
The second time we went to Malu’s Delhi was for lunch and I remembered the deliciously looking salad I’d eyed up on the neighbour’s table before. So, this time I went full on salad. One of the menu boards at their outside area stated that they do a walnut and goats cheese salad for only 130LE which I thought sounds just right especially as I remembered the size of the bowl I’ve seen there before. It said it would come with mushrooms, tomatoes and rocket salad. So, Dan and I ordered two of those salads, however, we seemed to have gotten a slightly different version of what was written on that board.
As we experienced before in several restaurants in Egypt, if a kitchen runs out of certain ingredients, they wouldn’t tell you, but replace or sometimes leave them out when serving. That was the reason why we didn’t question those tomatoes and mushrooms being missing, but peaches and peppers being added to our salads. Since we both liked it so much, it really wasn’t a big deal, even though I’m not a big fan of peppers. However, when it came to the bill, the waiter added 30LE to each of the bowls which, obviously, we found very odd. Since we’ve checked out the menu board and the price beforehand, we were quite a bit surprised and pointed out that there must have been a mistake with the bill. It turned out there was a misunderstanding as the salad shown on the board in front of the restaurant was listed as a dinner menu option which we couldn’t have known. That also explained the missing and replaced ingredients of our salad bowls. After a short (and nice chat) with the waiter we talked to the manager or supervisor who happily corrected the bill and changed it accordingly. So, really no biggie!
(That goat's cheese salad at Malu's Delhi!)
Anyway, the food at Malu’s Delhi was super nice, everything we had seemed to have been freshly made, the walnut and goats cheese salad dressing was rich and with the fruitiness of the juicy peaches on top, the salad had a bit of a special twist.
I'd say Malu's Delhi is a casual brekkie, lunch and dinner restaurant where you can sit outside on comfy chairs under the sun looking over a great open square facing the port, some yachts and boats.
As mentioned before, there was a bit of a mistake made by the waiter, but as the staff have dealt so professionally with the issue and solved the problem instantly and also politely, I’d give them five out of five stars for their service.
My fav at Malu’s Delhi: Definitely that goat's cheese salad for 130LE, or even for 160LE as it would have been. Delicious, rich and well portioned at a reasonable price.
Kan Zaman – Egyptian Cuisine
Another great options when you’re craving Egyptian flavours on your tongue, but don’t want to spend a fortune is Kan Zaman in Downtown. I had dinner there now a couple of times and went twice for the grilled chicken on the menu – yes, yes, grilled chicken… very experimental I know.
Anyway, with the chicken I ordered a side dish of grilled vegetables and whilst I was super happy about my plate being full of a colourful range of veggies like peppers, bits of egg plants, courgettes, tomatoes and onions, the second time I ordered the same veggie plate on another day I only got peppers. Nothing else. Well, that was a bit of a disappointment, but what I got was well seasoned and, in the end, I got the side veg on the house (even without asking for it. Actually, our waiter seemed to be a wee bit embarrassed and apologised that they've run out of so many ingredients.)
The chicken itself was juicy and nicely seasoned; it also had a bit of a spicy kick to it. The dish came with Egyptian rice and all together (half a chicken, a plate of rice, and a side dish of grilled vegetables) were enough for two people to feast on (we had a complimentary starter which probably helped to fill us up, too). As I remember, we ordered two beers with our meal and paid just over 200LE altogether.
The first as well as the second time we went for dinner at Kan Zaman we were warmly welcomed with tahini and some Egyptian flat bread on the house. Man, I love tahini! It’s that nice sesame paste dip which seems, in Egypt, you can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I get why. So good!
Looking at the ambience of Kan Zaman, it’s a level up from Zomba: not quite a cheap and cheerful place, but rather a bit more elegant with options to sit at nicely set tables outside. Also, the staff is very friendly.
My fav at Kan Zaman is half a chicken charcoal grilled. That was nice. Twice. Tahini was nice as well, if you fancy a starter.
Snack Shack – Western Food mainly
I remember the very first night we went to Downtown was the night we arrived in El Gouna which was all in all a bit of a stressful mess. We decided to wind down and go out for food. When we got to town we wandered around a little bit and sat down at a place called Snack Shack. Cute outdoor set up, they serve cocktails, drinks and food. The welcoming was a warm one, we ordered two beers and I went for the goat’s cheese salad which the menu said comes with lettuce, sundried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, rocket, apple and cucumber plus a dressing. All that sounded yummie and for 95LE (plus tax and service charge) it sounded like a great deal, too.
Well, as I mentioned above, sometimes when restaurants over here run out of ingredients, have a frequent turnover within their kitchen staff or when they have staff who simply don't care whatsoever, you don’t always get what you ordered. After all, I got a salad with leaves, bits of goat’s cheese, a couple of sun-dried tomatoes and balsamic dressing. However, it was missing all the rest of the ingredients. No cherry tomatoes, no rocket, so apples, no cucumber whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong, the salad I had was nice, but very sparse. The goat’s cheese was rich and soft, the sundried tomatoes flavoursome. As I said everything else was missing though. As we had a long day and a stressful night already anyway, I didn’t want to get into a dispute with the waiters, so I ate what I got and ordered another beer.
The second time we went to Snack Shack was around six months later. I got a chicken avocado sandwich and Dan a blue cheese burger. Both portions were big and came with chips, coleslaw, aioli and ketchup. I had a bite of the burger – dreamy! Moist patty, the blue cheese gave it a nice rich and tangy flavour, the bun was slightly toasted and soft inside. So good!
(Chicken avocado sandwich and blue cheese burger at Snack Shack)
My chicken avocado sandwich was supposed to come with chicken and avocado (dah!), sour cream, basil, garlic, mix of greens and lemon. Well, I got the chicken and the avocado, but, well, again all the other ingredients seemed to have gone missing. I was curious for the mix of flavours of basil, lemon and garlic, that was the reason I ordered the sandwich. However, it was only a bit of a bland chicken and avocado sandwich with a few leaves. I’m not sure whether there was any sour cream on it as shown in the menu – at least I couldn’t taste it. That was the second time it happened that the ingredients shown on the menu were missing on the actual dish. Maybe it’s just me at Snack Shack.
Anyway, again, what I got was alright. Big sandwich, they were not stingy with the avocado which was a big plus. The chicken was not too dry, too. The bread however, fell apart while eating, it might need slightly toasting.
At least Dan’s blue cheese burger was spot on! The chips were thick and crispy, well salted and the coleslaw on the side was creamy, finely grated as it should.
My favs at Snack Shack: Hmm… I think I might go for the goat’s cheese salad again, but next time ask beforehand whether they have the ingredients or not. Other than that, I really can recommend the blue cheese burger! For 120LE that’s not bad.
All in all, in El Gouna you can find a massive range of different restaurants and cuisines with pricier and only a few inexpensive options. Most restaurants here show off with good quality food, well sized portions, a nice ambience, views over the lagoons, nicely set tables and very friendly staff. Obviously, there are always some restaurants you wouldn't wanna visit (twice) – however, that might something for another blog post.