(Photo by Thoraia Abou Bakr)
Zamalek has seen its fair share of new restaurants popping up lately, but Mexican food seems awfully underrepresented. True, some staples like chips and salsa make appearances at Cairo’s supermarkets; for more filling fare, however, Gordo Burrito is a good bet.
Gordo Burrito serves up traditional Mexican dishes from burritos and tacos to rice and salad boxes, allowing customers to build their burrito (or other tasty dish). First, choose your base: burrito, or taco or rice/salad box. Then, choose the filling: chicken, beef, or vegetarian, and add in the extras, like sour cream, guacamole and cheese. Finally, you choose the salsa, which can be pico de gallo, salsa verde, chipotle salsa or corn salsa.
It also offers chips and a wide array of salsas, including fresh tomato, guacamole, chili, and beans. The chips were a pleasant surprise; less salty and oily than other restaurants.
Our vegetarian burrito was filled with beans, rice, cooked onions and peppers; we added sour cream and cheese, and chose pico de gallo as the salsa. We are happy to report it turned out as colourful and flavourful as Mexican food is supposed to, and despite the lack of meat, it was substantial and filling, with a hint of barbeque flavour.
On the other hand, those who ordered the chicken quesadilla were a bit disappointed. Despite the flavour, they found it a bit oily, and the chipotle salsa wanted for spice and salt.
In the dessert department, we only tried the Nutella Taco, which turned out to be more of a quesadilla than a taco— a nice concept, but the tortilla could have been a bit softer to avoid any lost teeth.
Overall, the experience was a positive one, prompting a second or maybe third visit, especially since a vegetarian burrito could cost you EGP 30 with extras or EGP 22 without extras, while a meat or chicken quesadilla would cost you EGP 31 without extras.
