Masrawy Kitchen – 2275 Britannia Rd W Units 1, Mississauga, ON L5M 2G6
Country: Egypt
Seating: Large indoor and outdoor dining
Must-try dish: Koshary
Dinner guest: Young Matt

As we drove up to the restaurant, the architecture was reminiscent of a pyramid – a lone pyramid in the middle of a plaza serving as a mecca for ethnic cuisine. Masrawy Kitchen was recommended to Mandrea Bike by an Egyptian server at Al-Mandi while we were sampling Yemeni delights. 

Although Mandrea Bike have both been to Egypt on separate trips, Andrea was fortunate to explore the country over a two month period in 2012. It was an incredible land, she visited a couple of oases, a few bodies of water, several ancient tombs and temples, and ate the local street food on a daily basis. 

Among all the tempting smells in the street stalls, something that always satisfied her hunger was koshary. This typical dish is the classic Egyptian street-food, and you can find it on most corners. On the surface, it seems like a random medley that mixes staples you have in your cupboard (lentils, chickpeas, rice, macaroni noodles), but you only have a little of each and not enough of one for a whole meal. Once it’s blended with garlic and spices, the carbs are topped with crispy onions and tomato sauce. 

Koshary is surprisingly delicious, and it’s no different from Masrawy Kitchen. They provide hot sauce to spice it up, and there’s a deal on now where you buy one and get another one free. Can you really go wrong with that? We don’t think so. 

Here are the dishes that we ordered from Masrawy Kitchen: 

• Koshary
• Kedba Eskandarani
• Lamb Kabab with rice 
• Musaka Masri 
• Ful Madames

The Musaka Masri also comes highly recommended. It’s a vegetarian dish made with eggplant in a tomato-based sauce and spices. It’s tasty both on its own or with the balady bread, which comes with the dish. 

Despite being a last-minute addition to the order, the Ful Madames fared well with our taste buds. It’s a side dish of beans with a tomato base cooked with the world’s best flavours: garlic, cumin, lemon, parsley, and chili, topped with tahini. The ideal way to eat it is with the flatbread that accompanies the meal. 

On the other hand, we didn’t like the Kedba Eskandarani, and actually couldn’t finish it. Beef liver can be a gamble in the best of times, and this dish really wasn’t our thing. But it should be noted that in the restaurant, the meat is served on a sizzling platter, whereas we ate it in a takeout container that had cooled down in the car ride home. So maybe there’s a chance of redemption for this dish when it’s eaten the way that it’s meant to be served. 

There were a few additional tempting items on the menu that did tickle our fancy, and we would certainly get them on round two. The Tamaya, which needs to be served hot, was out of the question, the Grape Leaves sounded amazing, and the Molekheya had an air on intrigue.  

It feels strange walking into a restaurant where the front of house is evidently closed with the tables and chairs simply waiting for this lockdown to be over. It’s even more strange not having the opportunity to interact with the people working there to help us pick some items from the menu. But these restaurants are still keeping their doors open for takeout and delivery, and Mandrea Bike wants to support them during this difficult time.  We want to thank all the outstanding kitchen staff working hard so that we can still eat abundances of food from around the world. Stay safe you guys. 

Eat with you soon,

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)