Review: Newly opened Café Supreme in Korba

Dahlia Ferrer, Thursday 23 Feb 2012

All the construction at the corner locale on quaint Baghdad Street was for Café Supreme: a café that - finally - has everything in Korba

Cafe Supreme
patio in Korba

Set directly on the main road that runs through Korba, this brand new café offers sushi as well as your typical café food.

From a street-view no passersby could guess what function the building used to serve. Café Supreme opted to highlight Korba's architectural heritage by accentuating their façade with curvy 2-D relief decoration on white arches during the makeover remodelling. Light-coloured stones dominate, clean lines, sand-blasted glass, and a small wall fountain draw the clients in. Black, modern pleather sofas and straight lines contrast with black gothic chandeliers, modern fixtures, intimate, round tables and dark wood indoor siding.

Flamenco music plays through the speakers at a pleasant volume, adding a romantic Spanish touch to the ambiance.

And, yes, Café Supreme already has plenty of local Korbians flocking in to check out the newest café within walking distance.

This café NOW SERVES shisa and has a non-smoking section, although the section is susceptible to gusts of smoky wind from the open doors and the smoking section next to it, although mitigated slightly by a wall.

Breakfast
For breakfast they have the typical croissants and muffins, but the highlight are the bagels! A tough find anywhere in Egypt, they range between LE35-39.

Omelettes, parfaits and Panini's run between LE24-28. My breakfast buddy, a labneh freak who even makes her own labneh, recommended Café Supreme's labneh Panini.

Turkish coffee is on menu. They serve all the usual, starting with American coffee, to espresso (LE16.50 – LE25) to the best hot chocolate. Tea? LE16.

Sushi
Now for the part that makes Café Supreme stand out among the other café choices in Korba: sushi (after 12noon).

The choices were over the top on creativity - a trend many sushi places in Cairo are hitting up. Sometimes they employ cost-saving factors, such as instead of using fresh salmon, for instance, they very often use smoked salmon. Although the flavour is ok, finicky sushi lovers will have to read the menu carefully to ensure they aren't getting a cheap version of a maki and paying for it like it was sashimi. But good news. They do have sashimi. LE40 for six slices. Not bad!

There are only three appetizers and two soups (the coconut seafood soup was expensive, small but extremely memorable).

Hoso maki rolls are in the LE20's range. Signature maki's range between LE25 for four pieces – LE69 for an 8-piece rainbow roll.

Hot tempura rolls range between LE29 for a four piece shrimp roll – LE58 for a fresh salmon roll. Combo plates run at LE150 for 26 pieces or LE250 for 42.

General menu
Appetizers range between LE16 for quiches to LE43 for smoked salmon crisps with avocado and cream cheese... yum. The veggie bruschetta comes warm and tasty and is in the midrange of the apps menu.

Although the salads have interesting ingredients, such as roasted artichokes, avocado, croutons, pine nuts, caviar, capers and smoked salmon salad they somehow fail to make the reader want one. What makes a salad much more interesting is contrast. Examples? Fresh, vinegar-y cucumber salad peppered with cranberries or a thick romaine lettuce salad doused in sweet dressing and blue cheese cubes. Or a cool bed of lettuce and veggies topped with chunks of a warm, fried item (yes, it defeats the purpose, but the client can afford a few extra calories atop of a low-cal salad). However, Café Supreme's salads have none of that appeal. They are just cold salads at LE26-45.

Where they might make up for the lack of truly tempting salad choices are in the sandwiches. Crab, avocado, lettuce, tomato and the misspelled alioli (aka tomeyya for the rest of Egypt) - or what about their chicken brie pita sandwich with pesto mayo – what a treat! You choose your bread and they serve it with a side of your choice of soup or salad.

You have a choice of three pastas (LE52-59) café pastas, a calzone and 5 pizzas between LE33-52.

Dessert
Finally, for desserts, who can resist chocolate fondant? Cookies start at LE16, and a whole range of cakes, cheesecakes, sundaes and even tiramisu range between LE23-29.

When asked about internet, they said it's in the plans and on its way to being set up. The place has plenty of sockets for the workaholic but it's really only possible to work during the day there. The evenings bubble with happy people.

 

Address

Corner of Thawra and Osiris St

District

Korba (in Heliopolis, Cairo)

Hours

7am – 2am

Tel

 

Internet

Coming soon

Smoking

Small non-smoking section, but during late evening rush hour may still be a bit bothersome

Price range

For coffee/pastry: LE60-75pp
For sushi: LE130-180pp

 

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