Cousins-in-law George Kaldas and Ishac Soliman are the joint owner-operators of El Qahirah, the first Egyptian food truck to hit the streets of Sydney — aptly named after the Arabic word for Cairo. After years of cooking delicious street food for their family and friends, Kaldas and Soliman decided to literally take the show on the road.

The simple, Egyptian menu at El Qahirah is made up three street food staple dishes — all with origins that date back to when the pharaohs were building pyramids, and Brendan Fraser was fighting mummys.

Koshary is the Egyptian equivalent of our humble meat pie, served in every shop and on every street corner in Egypt. It combines lentils, noodles, and rice, and is topped with spiced tomato sauce, chickpeas and onions. The second option is taameya — a delicious fava bean and herb patty served in flatbread with cucumber, tomato, radish, and tahini. If that sounds familiar, it's because the Turkish appropriated the dish way back when, and they called it the falafel. The third option is fuul medames, a delicious flatbread filled with fava beans, spices, lemon juice, garlic, and onion. If you didn't notice, all three options are vegetarian, and the only drink option is a refreshing cup of cold hibiscus tea.

The duo will be parking their bright, red, white and blue truck at some of Sydney's major breweries over the next few weekends, including Grifter Brewing Co. on the February 18 and 19, Batch Brewing Company on March 3, and Young Henrys on March 10. Prime opportunity to wash down a few beers with some delicious, nutritious Egyptian falafel.

Published on February 17, 2017 by James Whitton