The Nile came to Budapest: An evening of Egyptian culture and cuisine

An evening of live music and cultural dining showcased the rich world of Egyptian gastronomy and traditions at Budapest’s UP Hotel.

I experienced a remarkable cultural evening on 24 January when the Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Hungary and the 1000 Út Travel Agency co-hosted a dinner event at Budapest’s UP Hotel. Approximately fifty guests – public figures, media representatives, and tourism administration officials – gathered to take a mental flight to Egypt for the evening.

The dinner was opened by His Excellency Ahmed Fahmi Abdelgayed Shahin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, who personally welcomed the guests and presented his country’s rich cultural heritage. Mrs. Noran Hassan spoke about the traditions of Egyptian cuisine and the legendary Egyptian hospitality, setting the atmosphere for the evening.

The real surprise came from the authentic Egyptian dishes prepared by the Embassy’s excellent chef, Mostafa Yacoub Mohamed. For starters, we could taste creamy Cairo hummus, smoky baba ganoush eggplant cream – which evokes the world of Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz’s coffee houses – as well as tahini sesame cream. Alongside the stuffed grape leaves (maksi) and fermented cherry tomatoes, traditional lentil soup followed.

Among the main courses, kushari Abu Tarek style stood out – Egypt’s most famous street food, made from pasta, lentils, flavorful tomato sauce, and crispy fried onions. This dish, made from simple ingredients yet offering complex flavours, is the Egyptian answer to street food. The grilled kofta meat skewers, authentic falafel made from fava beans, spiced Alexandrian liver (kibda), Luxor-style eggplant moussaka, and green molokheya – the ultimate Egyptian comfort food – each represented a culinary journey. The spiced rice, though listed as a side dish, was almost as substantial as a main course with its various seeds and raisins.

The desserts – om ali, my favourite, Egypt’s most popular sweet, a baked bread pudding, and bezbusza oriental pastry El Abd-style – provided the perfect conclusion. All of this was washed down with deep red karkade refreshment, traditional Egyptian black tea, and minty-lemony lemun mint.

The evening offered more than just a gastronomic experience. Jaroszlav Gorszkij, CEO of 1000 Út Travel Agency, spoke about Hungarian-Egyptian cultural relations, while Egypt specialist Zsuzsa Méhész presented the treasures of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), which opened in November, recalling great moments in archaeology and objects that the public had never seen before.

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The special atmosphere of the dinner was crowned by Salem Owais’s Arab lute performance. The musician enchanted guests with Egyptian melodies, evoking the deeply emotional and passionate musical world of this country with millennia of history.

By the end of the evening, we were all enriched by an experience: we could discover that Egypt is not just about pyramids and the banks of the Nile, but about a rich and colourful world whose gastronomy and hospitality are as exceptional as its ancient treasures.

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