CAIRO: Any Cairene with a real love for Lebanese pastries can tell you how tough it is to find a freshly baked manousheh — made the authentic Lebanese way — here in Cairo.
This is precisely why fans of this Lebanese breakfast pizza rejoiced when Beirut’s very own the Lebanese Bakery (TLB) finally opened in Egypt’s capital city last September.
Located in the Maadi neighborhood, the branch — like all TLB outlets — was founded with the mission “to pay homage to the manousheh, to subtly enhance and modernize traditional recipes with creativity and attention to every bite,” according to TLB’s website. The bakery’s aim remains to “serve a delicious take on traditional manousheh and mouajjanet — the quintessential everyday Lebanese food.”
The options on the manousheh section of the menu include “From the Garden,” “Cheese,” “Meat,” and “All Day Breakfast.” TLB serves a selection of manoushehs with free-range eggs cooked sunny-side-up or paired with kashkawan cheese, sujuk, awarma or shakshuka sauce. There is also a section of salads, sides and kaak, and a vast selection of freshly baked mouajjanet and sweets. We were also impressed to find that you can select your own dough for your manousheh, with the options of whole wheat or multigrain. Besides the items on its well-curated menu, the bakery also sells its own condiments — including wild cucumber pickles, cocktail pickles and an eggplant makdous (pickled eggplant).
We visited the bakery on a cool Friday morning. It is located in a beautiful two-story building with both indoor and outdoor seating areas. We grabbed a cozy table outside to enjoy the November sun.
We selected a labna wa joz side, ras asfour manousheh, zaatar and akkawi cheese manousheh, and an assortment of mouajjanet.
The food arrived promptly, and was served with a proper cappuccino (one of the best coffees I’ve had in Cairo and reason enough in itself to drop by for breakfast).
First to our table was labneh wa joz — a magnificent labneh, walnut and black olive side dish served with freshly baked bread. The tanginess of the labneh was brought out by the bitter taste of the olives, but it was the choice to include crunchy chopped walnuts that really elevated this dish, which could easily suffice as a breakfast item on its own.
Next up was the zaatar and akkawi cheese manousheh (aka ‘nes-nes’ — or ‘half-and-half’); a ras asfour manousheh composed of diced beef, rocket leaves and pomegranate molasses and topped with fresh pomegranate; and finally, a hot-out-the-oven selection of mouajjanet.
The zaatar and akkawi cheese manousheh transported us back to our Beirut foodie trips — the sourness of the zaatar perfectly complemented by the saltiness of the akkawi cheese, with the manousheh crust striking just the right balance between thin and fluffy.
As delicious as that was, however, our manousheh-of-the-year contender was the delicious ras asfour manousheh. From the juiciness of the beef and the hint of pungent sweetness created by the pomegranate molasses to the crunchiness of the rocket and pomegranate, this was the highlight of the meal.
The mouajjanet selection was a hit too — both in terms of overall taste and baking quality. We sampled the thyme mouajjanet, spinach fatayer, cheese mini-pizzas, and small sfeehas. Straight out of the oven with just the right amount of filling, the mouajjanet complemented this hearty Lebanese breakfast perfectly.
Sadly though, we had no room left for any of TLB’s sweet pastries. The sweet manoushehs — carob molasses and tahini; Nutella; or Halawa with strawberry and pistachios — looked superb and we’ll definitely go back to try them some other time.
Cairo-based Manousheh fans who can’t make the trip out to Maadi can request delivery. There’s also a scheduled pick-up option if you’re in a hurry.
Personally though, we’d highly recommend visiting the bakery on an early morning and enjoying your manoushehs in the cool breeze.
