Café trottoir

It is hot and sunny and the air heavy and thick; a veil of smoke envelops the tables and school kids roam around like desperate kittens waiting for a snack.

PS Caffe — with two fs — is one of several coffee shops that have recently opened in the upmarket district of Zamalek, attracting shisha lovers from across the neighborhood. Shisha aficionados started flocking to the calm residential street of Al-Sayed al-Bakry when the owners of a fruit shop decided to grace Zamalek with a new cafe.

“The area needed a cafe,” manager Khaled Abdel Razek says, adding that what’s on offer locally aren’t real cafes. The coffee shop itself is tiny, but the setting of the tables is what makes the difference  — “cafe à la trottoir” says the proud manager, explaining the widely adopted concept of a pavement cafe.

“Customers drop by around closing hours of the neighboring stores to find an empty table,” explains Abdel Razek, bragging that they also come from as far as Maadi and Heliopolis.  

The coffee shop offers 24-hour service, and on busy days there can be up to 100 customers. With 30 employees, the cafe provides for over 35 families, according to Abdel Razek. There are allegedly threats of closure from the municipality, but he says they have no right to shut the place down.

The coffee shop is doing well. The manager attributes this to the fact that the property is owned not rented, explaining that money that would otherwise be used for rent is used to get the best products. “We serve Lavazza coffee, for instance,” he says.

Madame Azza, the owner of the neighboring cafe, Trombetta, confirms that PS Caffe is indeed doing well. Opened in 1991, until three years ago Trombetta was an upscale clothing boutique. “When international brands became more available in Egypt, less people were interested in the local products,” she explains. Like its counterparts, Trombetta offers drinks, snacks and shisha, but is less popular, as the pavement is much smaller and the area less visited by outsiders.

Al-Harra: Open-air food court

In the heart of Zamalek on Shagaret al-Dor Street, Al-Harra represents a new concept for food and entertainment.

Originally an empty space between two buildings in an area where several new takeout places were opening, Al-Harra is an open-air cafe and restaurant servicing local food outlets.

“The tables are set at around 4 pm and the place stays open until 2 am,” explains Rania al-Gazar, the owner of Agina, a takeout place that offers the Egyptian classic feteer. 

“Zamalek is quickly becoming a food and entertainment destination,” the young owner says, explaining that “the existing cafes are the reason behind the increase in rent prices, which has encouraged more shop owners to rent to cafes.”

As for local residents, Gazar says that “they throw water at us and regularly call the municipality,” adding that she feels particularly bad for those on the lower floors. More than 50 people come to Al-Harra on a daily basis, and those numbers double on the weekends, she says.

“Representatives from the municipality come regularly to remove the tables, Gazar says, “But soon after they leave, chairs and tables are put back and all goes back to normal.”