Om Abdo is the Motherly Culinary Embrace We've Been Craving

When one thinks of molokhia, the thought that immediately follows is almost always this: mama. It’s not strange by any stretch of the imagination that the two would immediately conjure up thoughts of one another. After all, molokhia is a dish crafted with an intricate assemblage of love, care, and delicacy - all of which are never better provided than by a mother. 

But what happens when you’re craving molokhia yet don’t want to bother the mother in question? It seems the answer is quite simple, you just borrow Abdo’s. 

Hidden in plain sight in New Cairo, Om Abdo is an oriental haven that whisks you off to days and nights spent on family farms with laughter and the fading smell of fried garlic in the air. Located right next to gate 6 of New Cairo’s Royal Sports Club in front of Mivida, Om Abdo is the culinary mother to whom we owe much gratitude for cooking up the most aromatic molokhia tajin we have hitherto tried. 

While Om Abdo’s molokhia is indeed the stuff of oriental fairytales, Om Abdo - whom we feel obliged at this point to note is not a real, living breathing human being, but rather the metaphorical mother behind this culinary establishment -  has mastered the art of many other classic dishes, and not ones for the faint of heart - or those concerned about their cholesterol - either. 

As is customary for an oriental restaurant in 21st century Cairo, the menu brims with all sorts of classic hot and cold appetizers, soups, and salads, but once you’re through the first few pages of the menu, that’s where things start to get serious. N.B. To our vegan, vegetarian, and pescetarian besties, we suggest a change of reading material…unless you want to be swayed out of your culinary beliefs...in which case, please keep reading.

With all sorts of ‘mashawy’ - that’s grills to you, Christina - up for grabs, Om Abdo has proven herself quite the generous host. From classic koftas, kebabs, and chickens to heavyweight champs like tarb, kaware’, and akawy - there’s not much that remains uncooked at this New Cairo enclave. 

Yet the literal meats aren’t really the ‘meat’ of the menu, considering that a meal at Om Abdo would be sorely incomplete with one at least one spoonful - yes, spoonful, not forkful, that was intentional - of Om Abdo’s signature roz me’ammar, followed by a bite of oriental sausage swimming in pomegranate molasses. 

An evening there would also be incomplete - oh no we’re not done here - without some stuffed vine leaves, which are very aptly presented to you in the very same pot they were cooked in, because Om Abdo knows that we’re all used to stealing mahshi from the pot anyway. 

While we won’t list down every item on the menu, regardless of how much we’d love to do so, there is one more thing that remains to be said: If a single tajin, plate, or kilo does not suffice, your appetite may be satiated with an entire lamb mandy, just make sure to invite your entire family. 

If a meal composed of the aforementioned somehow does not manage to fill you up, there’s no better way to go out than with Om Abdo’s boghasha pie. So next time you yearn for some molokhia - or mandy - in the embrace of trees, wooden benches, and outdoor clay ovens, you might want to head on over to Om Abdo’s.