Ever since we visited Egypt a few years ago, we have had a massive hankering for Egyptian food, even making it at home. Fortunately there is a sizable Egyptian community in Cleveland, which means there are yearly Egyptian cultural festivals with copious amounts of food, and even a delicious local Egyptian restaurant in King Tut (8801 Brecksville Road, Brecksville, OH). King Tut is a small restaurant primarily open for breakfast and lunch – with dinner hours on Friday and Saturday – which serves hearty street food favorites (the tagline of the restaurant is “Egyptian Street Food”). The owners Hadia and Nader Soliman are from Cairo and on one of our visits, Nader was happy to talk to us about everything on the menu, and his life in Egypt. We actually ate at King Tut twice in 2 weeks, which is quite unusual for us, since we like to try new places. In terms of our recent trips, our first visit in was with our adventurous foodie nephew, and when we told some of our friends about this trip, they wanted to visit the restaurant, too. Since we really enjoy King Tut we were happy to oblige.
The restaurant was doing a brisk takeout trade around lunchtime, though there are also a few dine-in tables. The decor includes many nods to ancient Egypt and also a prominent photo wall of famous Egyptians across time. King Tut’s curated menu consists of all day breakfast, wraps, entrees, and even some house-made desserts. In terms of breakfast foods, we were happy to see the typical breakfast dish of ful: mashed fava beans with onion, tomato, and tahini, served with a side of aish baladi (Egyptian flat bread). Ful is delightfully hearty and simple, and is filling enough to serve as a small main or side. We also got a delicious side of falafel, and other side dish options included heavily-spiced fries and a smoky and savory baba ghanoush dip.
In terms of more lunch-y items, of course, we had to order our favorite, koshary, which is a delicious, carb-heavy mix of pasta, chickpeas, rice, tomato sauce, and topped with fried onions. Koshary prepared in giant batches and doled out in small cups or bowls is a popular street food in Cairo, which is where we first enjoyed it. To finish your serving of koshary, you add your own vinegar and spicy sauce to taste. We have to say that this is definitely some of the best koshary we have had in the US. Among the offered wraps, our favorites included the grilled chicken and the beef shewarma. Our nephew particularly liked the beef hawawshy, spiced ground beef and onions flattened in pita bread, giving it the appearance of a pizza more than a wrap.
The desserts were also standouts: on offer were baklava and konafa. Our particular favorite was the konafa, which is a confection of an outer layer of crispy thin semolina pastry with a custard center, much harder to find in the US than baklava. The texture of the konafa is really interesting and delicious, a study in contrasts. The freshly-made mint lemonade was also a sleeper hit, alongside strong Turkish tea and Egyptian black tea for those looking for a caffeine fix. At this point, I think we have ordered almost everything on the menu except for the lentil soup, which is only available from October to April, so we will definitely have to go back to try it this fall. We definitely recommend King Tut for a taste of Cairo in Cleveland, and we have enjoyed every visit there. Not only are we fans, everyone we have brought here has also been very impressed.
This post about my favorite Amsterdam-based falafel chain has been a long time coming. I [L] first ate at Maoz several years ago in Philadelphia, at the time their only US location (2nd and South Street). I introduced M to the original Philly Maoz, if I recall, after we saw a late-night showing of Brokeback Mountain. My travels have since taken me to the Maoz in Paris, and all three Maoz in Barcelona. The Paris Maoz, pictured at right, was by far the worst Maoz of the bunch. The fries were soggy beyond belief. Maoz’ delicious Belgian fries are half the draw, so that ruined it for me, though eating our takeout at the 
First off, this 2nd Philly store is huge by Maoz standards, usually Maoz are only walk-up counters with maybe a bar stool or two. However, this brand-spanking-new Maoz has a nice big areas of wooden tables and benches. Notably the entire restaurant, tip to toe, was covered in shiny lime green tiles. Beware, epileptics, I’m talking lime green everywhere. You can make out the tiles in this photo my friend Dan snapped of the Philly Maoz (My camera died a horrible sputtering death on this tip to Philadelphia, so all of my photos come from my archives or friends).
Onto the food- your main and only choice is falafel, which Maoz does very well. The primary decision is if you want a whole pita (white or wheat), a half pita or a salad with falafel. I usually order a junior meal ($6.75) which is a half pita with falafel, an order of fries and a soft drink. Maoz falafel is Israeli-style, which apparently means that you then build your sandwich with lots of condiments. At Maoz there is indeed a nice salad bar of fixings, including couscous, eggplant, tomatoes, pickled carrots, spicy peppers and more. At the end of the salad bar are squeeze bottles of assorted sauces, including mango curry, tahini, garlic mayo and tzatziki.
Eating The World 