Snap shot

---

OVER the last few years, many of Cairo's five star hotels have started to set up tents and mock streets during Ramadan in imitation of the traditional neighbourhoods such as Al-Hussein. Shining lights, traditional food, waiters dressed in galabiyas, shisha (water pipes), shoe-shiners, incense and anything which might suggest the traditional Egyptian way of living become a common site in these luxurious palaces. Most hotels even have carts selling koshari and humus al-sham. And while customers enjoy their meal, especially during sohour, oriental takht singers and musicians perform for their entertainment. Some hotels even go as far as to recruit top singers, in the attempt to attract as many customers as possible to their tents.

Among the most talked-about tents in Cairo this Ramadan are the Mekasarat tent at the Gezirah Sheraton Hotel, Katayef at the Sheraton Royal Gardens Hotel, Layali Zaman at the Sonesta Hotel Cairo and Al-Kheima at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Most hotels also lay on the most sumptuous Iftar and sohour buffets featuring traditional Ramadan food, desserts and drinks. At the Semiramis InterContinental Hotel (+202) 797 1818, you have a variety of choices. You can enjoy the buffet at either the Fawanis Café in the Teeba Ballroom, where there is also live entertainment, shisha and TV screens, or in the Fawanis tent in the Cleopatra Ballroom, where your meal will be enlivened by live performances by a star Egyptian singer. If you are more into near eastern delicacies, you can choose from a variety of Iftar and sohour set menus offered at the Sabaya restaurant by Lebanese chefs Karim Khalifa and Nasser Makoul. For sohour, you can also spend an unforgettable night at the Pane Vino Terrace, where you can have your meal while watching Ramadan TV programmes or listening to takht music. This might also be a good opportunity to have your coffee cup read by a professional fortuneteller, or your hands decorated by a henna tattoo artist.

At the Grand Hyatt Cairo (+202) 365 1234 there is a choice of gourmet set menus for Iftar at both the revolving restaurant and the Nubian Village offering, besides mouth-watering dishes, unequalled panoramic views of Cairo and the River Nile. Also, the Galleria shopping and leisure centre food court offers meals in a range of styles for both Iftar and sohour, as well as an outdoor terrace overlooking the Nile that is open in the evening for shisha lovers.

At the Ramses Hilton Hotel (+202) 394 6902 you can enjoy your Iftar at the Terrace Café Restaurant, which is offering a delicious oriental buffet and a unique dessert buffet, as well as a Ramadan beverage corner. There is a 50 per cent discount for children under 12 years of age. You could also choose to experience a traditional Ramadan evening at the Garden Court, with traditional drinks, delicious Ramadan specialties and typical Egyptian flavoured shishas. Here you can while away the night until sohour playing backgammon or dominos to the sound of traditional oriental music and lively Ramadan songs.

You can also experience the Ramadan spirit at the Conrad Cairo Hotel (+202) 580 8745 where the Felucca Café is open for Iftar while the Samara restaurant serves sohour in a real oriental setting. A variety of menu options are available for group Iftar. The hotel also offers a special accommodation package in Ramadan, in the period from 15 October to 10 November, for Egyptians and foreign residents. You can have a double room for LE599 including sohour at Samara in addition to service charge and taxes. Package also allows you to use the health club excluding massage in addition to 15 per cent discount on food at any of the hotel's restaurants.