I love kebda (liver) as much as the next person — probably even more — but never in my life have I ever thought of braving up and heading to Imbaba to try their ever-so popular Kebdet El Brince.
There wasn’t any particular reason why I’ve never been there before; it was merely because of where I live. I’m a Maadi person, and if there’s one thing you know about Maadi people is that we love our little bubble, and we could happily spend every day of every week in it.
It all started last weekend when I barhopped Downtown Cairo with a couple of friends. It was 2:17 am at Odeon Palace, and at that very moment, I’ve found myself in quite a dilemma; intoxicated and hungry. Some of my friends were sadly not keen on getting food and wanted to continue being hot messes, but the fat cow inside of me stood for what I believed in and managed to find like-minded individuals in my squad that also wanted the same thing; food. After that, heading to Kebdet El Brince was a no brainer.
My designated driver friend, Hedi, drove me and Trestan — another hungry person who believed in my cause — to that part of town. The Fabulous Three (what I’ve decided to call us) headed to Imbaba in the hopes of finding that one true kebda that we oh-so desperately craved, but of course, life always has a way of giving you the middle finger because we ended up taking the wrong turn to Imbaba.
After many failed attempts of finding the place using Google Maps, we almost accepted the fact that we might not find our way to Kebdet El Brince. Two parts of The Fabulous Three were already drunk and 99.9% about to settle for the KFC they just passed by, but thankfully, they didn’t. With the help of Hedi and her determination to get us to the Iron Throne of kebda restaurants, we asked Imbaba humans for directions, and then some more humans until we found our way.
I have never seen a restaurant so full in my life. Think a horde of Walking Dead zombies as humans attacking food; that’s pretty much how it was, a beautiful mess.
We took to our seats which is when The Fabulous Three had a proper fangirl moment. The one and only Brince came to greet us, and because it’s 2017 and the millennial blood runs so deep inside of us, we had to take a selfie with him; and what a glorious selfie that was.
Baladi bread, tehina and baba ghanoug dips soon took over our table, along with the kebda, sausages, wara2et la7ma (an Egyptian dish that consists of meat wrapped in paper and cooked using coal), knuckle soup, rice, and of course, their signature; molokheya. It was everything I never thought I needed…and more.
To say The Fabulous Three enjoyed their meal would be an understatement because we absolutely loved it! I, for one, am not picky with my molokheya. I could eat any molokheya (I order from Maadi’s Om Hassan all the time) and still enjoy it, but Kebdet El Brince was a whole other experience.