Best Eats in Dahab - Cheap Eats
Extra cheap eats
Dahab is full of restaurants, but being very touristy they are often pricey, and a kind of fusion. For most visitors, even these overpriced places seem cheap. But if you’re one on more of a budget, where can you find the best eats in Dahab to fit the budgeting pocket?
That, of course, means eating like a local. Whether you are talking about breakfast or main meals, coffee or a place to chill over a beer, you can get food that is both cheap, and excellent. But you won’t find them on the main beach road (except for the kushari stand), so here is a guide to some good ones that locals have introduced me to.
Here is my list of the best eats in Dahab that have been recommended to me and I have tried. I have just completely rearranged the list, since I’ve now come across some new, amazing favourites!!!
Do you agree? Or do you have a favourite you think I need to add?
10 Best Eats in Dahab – the cheap ones
Or, eating like a local.
1 El Shawary, Sina Market – The best meal I have had the whole time in Dahab, is at El Shawary and Abu Has’s’an, hands down.
Coming in a close second, the second best meal I’ve had in Dahab - was also at El Shawary and Abu Has’s’an. So get yourself out to Asala for some amazing local food.
At the end of this little arcade, on your left is El Shawary, with great and cheap food. But the exceptional experience I had was by adding some seafood from its neighbouring shop, Abu Has’s’an. It will be a little more expensive by adding the fish, but oh, my - you are in for a treat.
Choose your fish and pay by weight. They will cook it and serve it up to you, together with your selection from El Shawary. Rice with tahina and salad, soup, beans, potatoes, BBQ chicken… El Shawary cooks theirs, Abu Has’s’an cooks their fish. You can sit in either place.
Half a kg of shrimp, a whole fish each, plus tahina, salad, soup, rice…. Not even $15 between 3 of us!
Sina Market in Asala - German bakery, and best cheap eats so far in Dahab.
2 Chillout – This one is quickly rising in my books for good food which is also cheaper. I’ve now had a great hamburger, and just now some excellent pasta for just 60 egp. They know how to cook pasta - not a given in Egypt and a rarity in Europe. I arrived hungry and forgot to take a photo of the food - I will have to go back for more. Oh, the hardships….
Good burgers and pasta
3 King Chicken – Now let’s take a trip to the other end of town. Head back along the main beach road, and across the bridge. Follow the street past the little supermarket (not the beach fork). There are lots of clothes shops, but on your right you will pass King Chicken. (If you get to a normal tarred street, you have gone too far). This has a great selection of classic Egyptian dishes – BBQ chicken with soup, salad, dips, bean and potato dishes… have fun, get as much as you can eat, and it will barely impact on your wallet. (Added secret - go a little further along this street, and just past the paved area and onto the tarred road, and you’ll get some of the best and freshest bread in Dahab).
4 Kushari – Back on the main road at he side of Nirvana there is usually a kushari stand. This is a decent kushari – one of Egypt’s famous dishes. Kushari is a number of different pastas, lentils and chick peas covered in a sour lemon sauce, a tomato one, some crunchy fried onions and meat on top. Surely starting as a leftovers dish, it still hits the spot and is one of my favourite Egyptian meals.
In front of Nirvana, nothing like Egyptian kushari
5 Shrimpo – Right next to Chillout, the next is a fish sandwich shop - which means in a wrap. Surprisingly tasty, and again, good prices. This has great little sandwiches with prawns/shrimp, calamari and other treats, at 60 Egyptian pounds for a small, 120 for a large. Definitely worth a stop.
6 Om Mahmoud – To be honest, ranking some of these places is really hard. But another treat is again out at Asala (said arse-a-la with the emphasis on the first syllable). The locals of course, don’t generally eat around Lighthouse. So you will find local treats getting away from there, such as at the main shopping centre called Asala . This is where the cheap shops and supermarkets are. You can walk, or catch a taxi on the main street at the back of the hotels. From the big square, take the street to the left at the start of it, opposite Sina Market, the German Bakery and El Sharawy. There you will see Om Mahmoud – An excellent meal which is very easy on the pocket.
Another great cheap eat in Asala
7 Mahalawy – the juice shop, with some pastries and basic eats. It may be more of a snack shops, but I rarely pass up one of their fruit and yoghurt cups. Head into the intersection off Lighthouse. It’s almost straight away on your left. If you feel like bypassing, you’ll pause anyway when you spot their advertised Viagra juice and hangover cures.
8 Abo Ahmed – The first one I ever went to – the very morning my bus arrived – was Abu Ahmed. This is your classic Egyptian eatery, this time with the prices to match. It has your typical breakfast and snacks – foul (said fool, a course fava bean dip), eggs, salad, falafels and dips – your choice of foods in a pocket, or in dishes for you to explore with your bread. It’s not just a breakfast place, but open all day. Head into the intersecting street, and towards El Fanar St to your left – it is on your right just before the taxis.
A quick fix snack or meal, foul and falafel sandwiches
9 El Massryen – Keep going straight ahead past the above cheap ones, past the Chinese Kitchen, Red Cat and Athanor, not far up this street (which basically runs along the backside of the places on the beach road and up past Blue Beach) this is another good cheap shop, which you will find on the left side of the street. It also has kushari. But also a kofta sandwich there is an excellent choice. I’ve never been a fan of meat balls – but then, I didn’t grow up on them over here. I thought the spices in Moroccan kofta were amazing. Here they are even better.
If you know of something worth mentioning in this list, please let me know so I can add it.