Cairo · Qasr El Nil
Zitouni
The Four Seasons dining room on the Corniche: what you pay for here is the absence of nasty surprises.
Zitouni is the Four Seasons' restaurant at 1089 Nile Corniche, in Qasr El Nil. The room, the service and the air conditioning are those of an international five-star hotel, and the bill follows: this is an address for a business lunch, for a family meal you want to go smoothly, or for the first evening after a long flight. The trade-off is that the city stays outside — you don't cross Cairo to eat here, you shelter from it. For a dinner that tells you something about Egypt, the same money buys a great deal elsewhere.
The extra bit
At lunchtime, ask whether there is a set menu: in a hotel of this class, that is the question that changes the bill. And allow extra time on the Corniche at rush hour — the traffic is the one surprise the hotel cannot spare you.
Know before you go
Getting into a big Cairo hotel means a walk-through scanner and a bag check: allow a few extra minutes. A hotel this size holds several restaurants — when booking, give the name Zitouni, not just Four Seasons. Prices here are the hotel's, not the city's.
