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Marriott Garden Cafe
By Juergen Stryjak
Some months ago, the great British ethnic-pop diva with
Egyptian roots, Natasha Atlas, told me during a telephone
call, that there wouldn’t be a better place in Cairo for a
relaxing late afternoon lunch in March then the Marriott
Garden Café. That seems to be a common opinion, as one week
ago on a sunny Friday afternoon I saw the famous Egyptian
popstar Amr Diab sitting at the table next to us, with
friends or family or both, I don’t know. But March has
finished, and as every year beginning from April the 1st
the garden no longer closes at 11:00 pm during the
summer months. It becomes a perfect place for spending warm
summer nights, too.
Located behind a romantic palace, built by the Khedive
Ismail for the French empress Eugenie, for the occasion of
the Suez Canal’s grand inauguration 1869, the garden looks
like a historical painting with well-dressed people sitting
in bamboo chairs under illuminated palm-trees, next to
classic statues and cast-iron pillars. The feel of the
atmosphere is exclusive, but that wouldn’t be reason
enough for me to visit the place occasionally.
Another important reason is that the Marriott Garden
doesn’t impose a minimum cover charge. This is quite
unusual for places of this caliber, in Egypt. From time to
time, I have read of such a cover charge in the Marriott
Garden, but as often I have been there, I have never had to
pay for more than I consumed, even if it was only a
cappucchino for 2 Dollars or one bottle of mineral water for
three persons. I consider this generous behavior as being a
normal if not a necessary gesture for such noble places, but
many of similar Cairene cafés never even dream of giving up
that bad habit of charging a minimum.
Feeling invited in such a way, I found myself spending
more and more nights at the Marriott Garden, with Egyptian
friends or guests from abroad, with my wife or with
colleagues, just for one hour before we went to another
place or till late at night.
Food and alcoholic beverages are rather expensive, a
pizza goes for around eight Dollars, a local Stella beer,
the cheapest one, costs around three Dollars. The view and
atmosphere are free, including sometimes the chance to watch
the wedding party of an Egyptian upper-class couple inside
the palace, especially on Thursdays and on Saturdays. One
just needs to walk through the halls of both stories of the
building occasionally, which by the way are impressively
beautiful and thanks to the private Marriott management, in
excellent condition.
Late spring time and summer the rooftop terrace of the
palace changes into a romantic open-air cinema, where one is
allowed to eat, to drink and to smoke a shisha (or
waterpipe), during the movie. However, here you have to pay
a minimum charge of LE 40 ($10) per person.
Marriott Garden. Marriott Hotel. Sarayah Al-Gezirah St.
16, Zamalek, Cairo. Telephone: 7358888
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