Food In Luxor
Dining & Restaurants In Luxor
Most people come to Luxor for monuments and not for its fine cuisine – a good thing as most restaurants, particularly in the hotels, are pretty mediocre.
However, the food is gradually getting better, with a few restaurants upping the standards by doing what Egyptians do best: cooking honest traditional Egyptian food.
Outside of hotels, few places serve alcohol or accept credit-card payment; exceptions are noted in the reviews. Unless otherwise noted, restaurants tend to open from about 9 am until midnight.
EAST BANK
Sofra
Sofra remains our favorite restaurant in Luxor. away from all the tourist, it is as Egyptian as can be, in menu and decor, and even in price. The ground floor has three private dining rooms and a salon, giving the feeling of being in someone’s home.
There is also a wonderful rooftop terrace, which is also a cafe, where you can come for a drink. The house is filled with antique oriental furniture, chandeliers and traditional decorations, all simple but cozy and very tasteful.
The menu is large, featuring all the traditional Egyptian dishes such as stuffed pigeon and excellent duck, as well as a large selection of salads, dips, and mezze. Alcohol is not available, but there are delicious fresh juices on offer, and sheesha afterward. It’s a real treat, with very friendly staff.
Located in 90 Mohamed Farid Street | Al Manshiya, Luxor 83911, Egypt
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Oasis Café
Originally set in a 1930s building right in the center of town, The large room has less character than before, but the menu is the same, offering a regular menu of international dishes, including pasta, grilled meats, filling sandwiches, daily specials on the blackboard and a wide selection of pastries.
This is a good place to recover from the bustle of Luxor town, from the heat or from sightseeing. The dining room is cool, with jazz playing softly, and the New Yorker and info about Luxor to read.
It’s the perfect place for lunch, to linger over a morning latte or to spend the afternoon reading. The place is very Western, but in a nice way like your favorite cafe back home. Beer and wine now available.
Located in St Joseph St., Luxor, Egypt
As-Sahaby Lane
Great easygoing alfresco restaurant in the lane running between the souq and the street to Karnak Temple. Fresh and well-prepared Egyptian dishes like tagen (stew cooked in earthenware pots) are served as well as good pizzas and salads.
The young staff is very friendly, always ready to help or up for a chat. This terrace is a great place to watch the world go by, or relax from shopping in the souq. The same food is served on the hotel’s rooftop terrace, with great views over Luxor Temple and the Thebes mountains, both floodlit at night.
Located in Al-Sahaby St | Via Luxor Temple St, Luxor 85951, Egypt
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Salah AL-deen
Salahadeen offers a set menu, ‘Salahadeen Feast’, which includes three courses with 15 dishes of fresh home-cooked Egyptian food to share. Most dishes consist of vegetables, and the vegetarian options are not cooked in a meat broth as in so many other places.
The food is served as if it were an Egyptian home – knives and forks are offered but guests are encouraged to eat in the Egyptian way by dipping bread in the various dishes. Dinner starts promptly at 7 pm, but the bar opens for pre-dinner drinks at 6 pm; alcohol is also available in the restaurant.
Located in Salah El Deen Al Auby St, Luxor, Egypt
Silk Road
The Silk Road is arguably the most sophisticated dining experience in Luxor, offering an exotic cuisine, rich in spices, sourced from India, Thailand, China and all over Asia and prepared by the wonderful Indian chef.
The setting is Asian minimal chic. If you are at a loss with the large-ish menu, ask for a degustation of several dishes. A good wine list, and perfect for a romantic dinner.
Located in Hilton Hotel, Luxor, Egypt
Puddleduck
This small restaurant is consistently popular with foreign residents in the area, as well as with visitors, both for its cozy and friendly atmosphere, the personal service of British husband and wife team Jill and Mick, and its excellent food.
The menu changes weekly, keeping some of the house favorites like roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, chicken-liver pâté, and the notoriously good cheesecake. Dishes are mostly British or European, but the menu features a few well-prepared Egyptian dishes like tagen, and fresh fish is a specialty. Book ahead as it is very popular.
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Gerda’s Garden
German-Egyptian runs Gerda’s Garden has built up a strong reputation over the last six years and is very popular with European residents and regular visitors to Luxor.
The decor is more provincial European bistro than Egyptian, but the menu features both Egyptian specials like kebab and deliciously grilled pigeon and very European comfort food for those slightly homesick, such as goulash and potato salad.
Located in El karnak | Ali Ibn Abi Taleb, Luxor 85951, Egypt
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Jewel of the Nile
Laura and Mahmud offer traditional Egyptian food using organic vegetables from their own farm, as well as well-prepared British food for homesick Brits including steaks, cottage pie, apple crumble and an all-day English breakfast.
On Sundays, a traditional lunch is served all day with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, and on Saturdays and Wednesdays at 5.30pm there is popular quiz night in aid of local charities.
The menu features a good selection of vegetarian dishes. You can dine in the small outside sitting area or the air-conditioned interior dining room. Alcohol available.
Located in El Road El Sharifa | Off Medina Street, Luxor, Egypt
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La Mama
The Italian restaurant on the terrace overlooking a little pond with wading birds, at the entrance to AICHI Resort {former Sheraton}, is a good bet, particularly if you’ve got kids in tow.
The restaurant is decorated in 1970s style with red-and-white napkins, live Neapolitan music and a good selection of pizzas, pasta, and mains, all served in clean five-star surroundings.
Located in Sheraton Hotel, Luxor, Egypt
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1886 Restaurant
1886 is the fancy restaurant in the town center, serving inventive Mediterranean-French food and a few Egyptian dishes with a twist, all in a grand old-style dining room with very formal waiters.
Guests are expected to dress up for the occasion – men wear a tie and/or jacket (some are available for borrowing) – and the food is superb and light. The menu changes with the seasons, but expect delicacies such as grilled spine lobster in a butter sauce, or risotto of prawns and truffle. A grand evening out!
Located in Old Winter Palace Hotel, Luxor, Egypt
A Taste of India
A small British-run Indian restaurant in neutral colors with plain wooden tables and chairs. On the menu are European versions of Indian dishes such as korma, spinach masala and jalfrezi (marinated meat curry with tomato, pepper, and onion), as well as original Indian specials such as Madras and vindaloo curries.
For those not too fond of spice, a few international (read British) dishes such as steak and chips are available. The place is popular with expat Brits and vegetarians who come for spicy vegetable dishes.
Located in St. Joseph, Luxor, Egypt
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Abu Ashraf
This large, popular restaurant and takeaway is just down from the train station. It serves roasted chicken, pizzas, good kushari (noodles, rice, black lentils, fried onions and tomato sauce; and kebabs.
Located in Sharia al-Mahatta | Station Street 200 meters down the road, Luxor, Egypt
Koshari Elzaeem
A popular kushari restaurant that also serves an Egyptian version of spaghetti. There are a few tables but they fill up fast.
Located in Youssef Hassan St. in Front Of Lotus mall, Luxor, Egypt
WEST BANK
Al-Moudira
In keeping with its flamboyant decor, Al-Moudira has the most sophisticated and the most expensive food on the west bank, with great salads and grills at lunchtime and a more elaborate menu for dinner with the delicious Mediterranean- Lebanese cuisine.
This is a great place for a romantic dinner in the courtyard, or by the fire in the winter. Call ahead for reservations.
Restaurant Mohammed
With an outdoor terrace and laid back atmosphere, Mohammed’s is the perfect place to recharge batteries in the middle of a day exploring temples and tombs or to linger in the evening.
This is a family affair, the restaurant being attached to the owner’s mud-brick house; the charming Mohammed Abdel Lahi serves with his son Azab, while his wife cooks.
The menu is small but includes meat grills, delicious chicken and stuffed pigeon, served with fries and excellent simple salads. Stella beer is available as well as Egyptian wine. They can organize a picnic in the desert or on a felucca upon demand.
Nile Valley Hotel
A popular rooftop restaurant with a bird’s-eye view of the action along the west bank’s waterfront and Luxor temple, the Nile Valley has a wide-ranging menu of Egyptian and international specialties but is also a good place to relax with a cold beer.
Website: Click Here
Al-Gezira Hotel
This comfortable rooftop restaurant serves a set menu with Egyptian specialties, such as the infamous molokhiyya (stewed leaf soup) and mahshi kurumb (stuffed cabbage leaves cooked with plenty of dill and semna) that must be ordered in advance. There are great views over the Nile and the bright lights of Luxor beyond. Cool beers are on offer as well as Egyptian wine.
Located in Gezira El Bairat, West Bank, Luxor, Egypt
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Memnon
Excellent, laid-back restaurant with simple but very well-prepared Egyptian fare.
If you want a change from that, there are some equally good Indian and Chinese dishes on the menu. Afterward, hang out and stare eternity in the face looking at the Colossi while smoking a sheesha. Leave some space for the homemade mango sorbet; it’s worth it.
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Fruit & Vegetable Souq
This is the best place for fruit and veg, although the good stuff sells out early in the morning. On either side of the main street are little shops selling produce and groceries throughout the day.
Arkwrights Gourmet Food
Great food store with fresh fruits and vegetables, freshly made bread and a large selection of Egyptian and imported food products.
The quality of the product is high, and this is the place to stock up for a more sophisticated picnic, as they recently started doing packed lunches – freshly made sandwiches and salads to take away, Open all hours.
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Cheap Eats
Luxor has a number of good bakeries. Try the ones on Sharia Ahmed Orabi, at the beginning
of Sharia Maabad al-Karnak and on Sharia Gedda. On the west bank try the food and fruit shops on the main street in Al-Gezira, or head for the wonderful weekly market Souq at-Talaat, in Taref opposite the Temple of Seti I.
New Oum Koulsoum
Coffee Shop right in the heart of the souq, on a large terrace with welcoming mist machines, where you can recover from shopping and haggling and watch the crowds without any hassle. On the menu are fresh juices, hot and cold drinks, and a good sheesha, as well as ‘professional Nespresso’ co
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