Healthy Eating in Town

Healthy eating is proving to be more important than ever. Yet until recently in Cairo, you couldn’t easily find places dedicated to serving healthy foods. The options offered were usually at two extreme ends of the spectrum: bland diet food or fattening and heavily processed options (not to mention the hundred varieties of cupcakes and the likes of it). Nutritious and healthy unprocessed food just didn’t make it to the menus. Thankfully things have slowly started to change with more options for healthy eating in town.

Hale Kitchen

After getting tired of having to order grilled chicken every time they went out due to the lack of variety of healthy food options in most Egyptian restaurants, the partners of Hale decided to launch their very own food establishment.

They met with nutritionists, Shwekar and Yasmine El Gharably, who helped them put their Mediterranean-themed menu together. All their ingredients are locally sourced. “If you ask me where to get them, you will be able to buy them yourself from any local store,” Rana Nouman, one of the owners, explained. “Our goal is to increase awareness that healthy living is not some sort of punishment. It’s about looking after your body and your energy levels. Whatever your body type and even if you’re already very skinny, this still applies to you.”

“When you start pursuing a healthy lifestyle, at the beginning it will take some getting used to but then it will eventually start fitting like pieces in a puzzle and you can smoothly pass it on to your friends and your children.”

Launched just one month ago, Hale became an instant hit with healthy eaters. With ample natural light and extreme attention to aesthetic, Hale’s food isn’t just delicious, but it is space is Instagram worthy as well.

What to order:

Nouman highly recommends their chicken spinach roll, Shakshouka, customizable Greek yogurt with dry fruits and their famous oatmeal cookie pot.

Address: Club 7, Katameya Hills, Fifth Settlement.

Sea Salt Bakery

After falling ill in 2013 with an autoimmune disease that left her very weak and unable to live a “normal” energetic life, Passand Al Hammami found out she had a wheat and dairy allergy, and decided to take control of her health. “It didn’t start out as a business decision at all! Sea Salt Bakery started out as an extension of my own life really,” she told us.

Her goal is to help people to find a gluten-free substitute to basic foods in their daily lives such as bread and pastries. She spent a lot of time doing online research of gluten-free baking and discovering recipes that really do work, as well as, joining global communities via online seminars run by doctors of natural medicine and holistic healing, and then getting taught by experts at the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners.

“I want people to know there are healthy substitutes to all our favorite comfort foods that actually taste great. Who would have thought they could have a gluten free and dairy free Chocolate Eclair? It’s possible. We make it.”

Open since August of last year Sea Salt Bakery & Café boasts a charming European feel. Its welcoming setting makes it the perfect place to hangout at whether night or day in the heart of Zamalek.

What to order:

Go for Lulu’s Chocolate Pancakes and French Toast, if you want a healthy delicious breakfast. “Warning: the smell of this dish before it’s served fills up the cafe and creates hangry symptoms!”

Address: 6 El-Mansour Mohammed, Abu Al Feda, Zamalek

Lychee

Lychee prides itself in making healthy and clean eating more accessible for everyone without compromising taste. Their objective is to offer customers a variety of products that make a healthy lifestyle easily attainable. “Our healthy dessert line falls under the same goal, we wanted to offer customers a guilt-free product that indulges their sweet tooth,” Mohamed Assy, the founder, told us.

Lychee only started out with serving smoothies but their menu has been expanding ever since. After recently reaching their five-year anniversary, they now have a menu that offers a wide variety of freshly-made products from cold pressed juices, smoothies, protein shakes, nut butters, Greek yogurt, snacks, Almond Milk, and their EAT line of sandwiches and salads to their newly launched line of healthy desserts.

It definitely has that casual, hipster ambience we enjoy at any Starbucks, except that it serves smoothies instead of coffee and healthy snacks instead of pastries.

What to order: The Signature Smoothies are a regular customer favorite.

Addresses: 5 Brazil St. Zamalek, Gezira Club, Zamalek, City Stars Mall, Road 9, Maadi, Cairo Festival City Mall, Marassi, El Gouna, and Diplo, North Coast.

By Sarah Guirguis