Downtown Cairo’s ‘Sameh’ Makes Sandwiches Beyond Your Wildest Dreams

‘Fino’ bread sandwiches are a somewhat-sanctified pillar of any Egyptian household, treated with the utmost reverence often in the form of feta cheese and sliced cucumbers, or the occasional microwaved-roumy cheese. So who out there would dare shatter all our comfort ‘fino’ culinary beliefs and reinvent that which we thought we knew better than the palms of our own hands? Well, it seems Downtown Cairo’s ‘Sameh’ has taken it upon himself to serve up some peculiar combinations that push the beloved bread to its very limits…

‘Sameh’ is a name engrained within the minds of Cairenes living downtown, and for good reason. Serving up the most ‘experimental’ food combinations in a classic ‘fino’ bread loaf, its menu is a make-it-up as you go sort of situation, literally. With the ability to customise your own sandwich, no option - as long as the ingredients are there - is off limits. We went over to Sameh and asked for their craziest combos, and they did not disappoint. 

From the sugar-coma-inducing ‘Sasa el Helw’, with Nutella, Lotus, and heavy cream, to the cleverly questioning ‘Mabsoota?’ With honey, Loacker, Nutella, and Lotus and the mysterious ‘Am Ramadan’ with its filling of honey, Kiri cheese, roumy cheese, and heavy cream, ‘Sameh’ has done it all, and so the question remains…why?