Khofo @ Dubai

This was Princess and my first meal during our recent holiday in Dubai. Get ready to walk like an Egyptian.

Dubai’s first casual dining Egyptian restaurant, Khofo Restaurant and Cafe, transports you to ancient Egypt through interior spaces decorated with majestic columns and hieroglyphic murals inspired by the palace of Khufu, Egypt’s ruler during the fourth dynasty.

But what attracted us was the view by the riverside. The restaurant is located in Al Seef historical area that has been refurbished and offers a wonderful view of the lovely Dubai Creek at night. We ordered our drinks and food and enjoyed the cool breeze and the Arabic desert winter which is around 24˚C.

Khofo Special Hummus

Collection of hummus with Shrimps – Chicken – Meat

The special hummus came in three flavours – avocado, plain and beetroot. And besides the flavoured hummus, each was topped with sautéed shrimps, carved meat from the shawarma, and grilled chicken.

And a generous basket of pita bread was provided to dip into the delicious hummus. What a way to start the meal!

Koushary Fondant

Ball Of koushary (rice, lentils, pasta) deep fried with tomato sauce and fried onion

Koshary is Egypt’s national dish and a widely popular street food. A traditional Egyptian staple, mixing pasta, rice and brown lentils, and topped with a zesty tomato sauce, garlic vinegar and garnished with chickpeas and crispy fried onions.

It has been reinvented here but mashing the ingredients together into a ball and deep fried. At first glance, they looked like falafel. But the chef has used some creative liberty by mashing the rice, lentils and pasta together with chickpea mash into a ball, and then deep fried like a falafel. Nothing wrong with deep fried food, absolutely delicious. The freshly made tomato sauce and fried onions were then used condiments.

Meat Kofta

The next dish, they stuck to tradition and prepared a delicious meat kofta used well-seasoned ground lamb and beef mixed with parsley, onion and garlic. Came with a spoonful of chopped salad and minty yoghurt dip.

Cleopatra (Pigeon) Casserole

Roasted pigeon stuffed with rice

The famous Egyptian queen, Cleopatra (69-30 BC) was accredited to the naming of this stuffed pigeon dish because according to Roman poet Lucan (39-65 AD), she was buried with a jar of pigeon stew. A traditional delicacy food, hamaam (pigeons) are bred throughout Egypt in conical pigeon towers for meat.

They are stuffed with seasoned rice or freek (bulgur wheat) before being grilled or baked. We chose the stuffing to be rice as I am not a fan of wheat. I am too used to braised or roasted pigeons done Cantonese style, this pigeon was really too thin and difficult too eat.

We really enjoyed this first meal in Dubai, even though it wasn’t Emirati cuisine. The staff was really friendly, the ambience was great and the food was delicious. We even watched Egypt and Belgium played a friendly football match on TV. Egypt won the match.

Khofo Restaurant & Cafe
Al Hamriya – Dubai – United Arab Emirates
Tel : +971 43885005

Visited Nov 2022

#khofo.ae #eygptianrestaurant #dubaialseef