The Ladies Visit the Blue Lotus of Sakkara Restaurant

This year Linda and the Ladies Tour visited a new restaurant "out in the country" offering a wonderful buffet luncheon of Egyptian home cooking.

When making the twenty mile drive south from the Giza Pyramids to visit the Step Pyramid at Sakaara (Saqqara is spelled in a variety of ways!) you drive past a number of "carpet schools" as you near the destination. Here a visitor can stop, meet the students, learn the ways of the Egyptian carpet weavers and, of course, experience the ways of the Egyptian carpet merchant!

  

 

Nestled in among the several carpet establishments as one nears Sakkara, a modest driveway leads into a rest-house with a delightful garden courtyard. Operated by the Bakr Fahmy family, the Blue Lotus Restaurant offers a great buffet featuring many of our favorite local dishes.

 

 

The first welcoming sight upon arrival is the bread baking operation out in front of the entrance.  The bread lady is carefully preparing the pallet to place in the wood-fired clay oven.  This ensures that the bread inside the restaurant is fresh and tasty.

 

  

 

After being seated and ordering a beverage, the guest picks up a plate and chooses from the savory and colorful selections on the long buffet table.

  

 

The two potato dishes were flavorful additions to the chicken, kofta and stuffed vegetables that form the bulk of the luncheon. Oh, what to choose? How about a little of everything. This isn't restaurant food, it's genuine home cooking.

 

The courtyard seating arrangement offers a choice of sunny or shaded seats.  Beverages are served to the tables.  After a return trip or two to the buffet line, the typical desert fruits of banana, yousafandi (mandarins) and dates make a fine finish.  

 

 

The ladies enjoyed meeting Mrs. Bakr who personally supervises the food operation.

 

Linda and the ladies visited in January and gave it a thumbs up so she and I returned in February for an afternoon outing. We rate it five stars.

 

Additional photos for this post can be found on this Flickr Album.

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