Cafe Le Caire

First of all, let me apologize for the quality of the photographs.
We used an actual camera but the dining area was very very very dimly lit so the shots turned out a little dark/blur in the end.

If someone were to say Cafe Le Caire, probably a handful of people would say they knew the place. But if I was to say Al-Majlis, I’m guessing more people would recognize the name. To be honest, I’m one of those people who didn’t really take note of the actual name of the restaurant when I last visited.

Cafe Le Caire has been around since 2001 and is one of the more popular hangout joints in the Arab Street area. It labels itself as a cafe but it’s more like a full-fledged restaurant. Lots of people visit to get a hearty meal and hangout with friends while smoking some shisha.

I’ve visited a few times in the past and figured it was finally time to feature it because it’s definitely still one of the most popular hangout spots.

Hummus Bil Laham ($6.80)

Here at The Halal Food Blog, we love our Hummus to come with some meat. One of the best Hummus we’ve ever had was the Hummus with Minced Beef from Anar. In fact, we loved it so much that it’s our profile pic on our FB page!

Here at Cafe Le Caire, you can have your Hummus with some pieces of grilled lamb.
The Hummus was creamy and quite tasty but unfortunately it was a little dry. Would have been nice to have more olive oil served with it I guess.

I think one of the biggest letdowns was that the roasted lamb was actually cold. It would have been nice if they had at least heated it up a little bit… But that being said, I have to say that the lamb was very very tender. I quite enjoyed it but would definitely have enjoyed it even more if it had been warmed up.

Mushroom Platter ($12.00)

Oh you all know I love mushrooms. And since I’m so greedy I went and ordered a 2nd appetizer! 😛

The Mushroom Platter is a nice mixture of spiced and marinated Portabello, Abalone and Button mushrooms. This was at least served a little warm. Nice earthy and woody mushroom flavour. Very very tasty dish and a definite choice for mushroom lovers.

Just make sure you have someone to share with because the serving is bigger than it looks!

Kabsa Laham ($15.00)

The Kabsa Laham is available only on Fridays so we decided to grab our chance.
Hmmmm… maybe we should have thought twice.

Again, we were served a dish that was not heated up. The rice was cold and the lamb was warm at best.
I’m not sure if the server had taken too long to bring the dish to us? We didn’t really have to wait that long leh…

Anyways the rice wasn’t really that tasty. The lamb was tender but definitely strong on the spices (especially cardamom). If you like a strong spice flavour, this is definitely a dish you might want to consider. And the serving is very generous so you can share between at least 2-3 people and grab some other side dishes as well.

But overall, I think we were really expecting this dish to be the bomb since it’s a specialty that’s only served on one day of the week. Quite disappointing to be honest.

Cleopatra ($6.00) and Karkadeh Fizz ($5.00)

The Cleopatra is basically a fancy name for a mixture of Pink Guava, Mango and Orange juices.
Nice and strong citrus flavour for those who enjoy.

Karkadeh is actually Hibicus Tea. I remember having it the last time and quite enjoyed it so I thought I’d try the fizzy version this time. Unfortunately the fizzy water really took away from the flavour. I’d recommend to take the non-fizzy version if you wanna try.

Adam’s Verdict:
Hummus Bil Laham 3/5 — Mushroom Platter 4/5 — Kabsa Laham 1.5/5 — Karkadeh Fizz 1.5/5

Maryah’s Verdict:
Hummus Bil Laham 2.5/5 — Kabsa Laham 2/5 — Cleopatra 2.5/5

Some of the dishes are quite value for money but I guess you can see that some dishes could be considered a little pricey. But remember, this is quite an upscale place in an upscale area so prices might be on the high side for some things.

Well, whether you like the food or not, Cafe Le Caire aka Al-Majlis is still a firm favourite.
There are so many things to try so we will probably visit a few more times. Hopefully the food will be heated up the next time we visit 🙂