EXCLUSIVE: Award-Winning Italian Restaurant San Carlo Opens in Marassi

Scaloppine al Limone, Filetto Salmone, and scores more Italian specialties in tow, Sicily-conceived and Birmingham-born award-winning fine dining Italian restaurant San Carlo has debuted in Egypt, setting up shop on the North Coast’s Marassi Marina, in partnership with Egypt’s The Smokery.

With an alfresco dining setup, San Carlo is bringing the true spirit of Italian coastal cuisine to the Mediterranean shores of Egypt's North Coast. Offering all their signature classics—seafood, pastas, pizzas, antipasti, and insalata—right by the crystalline blue waters of the Marassi Marina, San Carlo is adding a sprinkle (or a few) of Italian lovin', and a much needed sense of Dolce far Niente to our Egyptian summers, evoking the essence of relaxed, indulgent dining that Italian summers are famed for.

“My father Carlo Distefano had a dream to open a restaurant with the finest Italian ingredients, that would have something for everyone, where you could spend as little or as much as you like; an authentic experience of home.” Marcello Distefano, CEO of San Carlo, tells SceneEats. “To this day the philosophy has never changed, and it’s very exciting to see it materialise in Egypt.” 

With San Carlo and The Smokery both being family businesses, the collaboration - two years in the making - was a natural success from the get-go. “Working in a family business is definitely an experience that only other family business members can understand. Which makes our partnership with the San Carlo family truly special.” Fred Henein, Managing Director of The Smokery tells SceneEats. 

When San Carlo’s founder Carlo Distefano first moved to Birmingham, he could not have imagined that years later his dream would materialise into a multi-million restaurant empire. Now, with more than two dozen branches across the UK and the Middle East, the San Carlo at the Marassi Marina is the brand's latest crown jewel, with Signor Sassi, part of the San Carlo empire, coming to El Gouna later this year, once more in collaboration with The Smokery. 

“Egypt is a very exciting market for us with opportunities on the North Coast, the Red Sea and Cairo.” Distefano teases. You know what they say about Italian businesses and families, you can’t have one without the other.