Cilantro
AlTahleya street, in Le Chateu
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Tel: 920012912
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For those of you who don’t know Cilantro, they started out in Cairo in Zamalek in 1999 and have since gone on to open their coffee stores across Cairo, Alexandria, and then Picadilly in London. They now have over twenty stores around the world, and were at one point (in 2005) in the cross hairs of Starbucks (According to their site) who lost the bid to buy out Delicious Inc (owners of Cilantro) to Mr Hisham El Sewedy. Nice outdoor seating in the Le Chateau Mall makes this a place you can linger.
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The warm sandy stone of Le Chateau open-air mall on Tahlia is welcoming and inviting on a bright, sunny morning. Yet the front and side entrances to Cilantro are reserved for Singles, while Families, by which we understand: Women is relegated to one back entrance. In Jeddah these days, there are many cafés with ‘Family’ sections on the ground floor (Goodies, on Malik, for one) so why at Cilantro do women, and families, have to trek all the way up to the first floor? Surely, it is more logical for Single Men to be obliged to ascend in the rather small lift, albeit a clean and mirrored one? Anyway, having made it to the upper reaches, the welcome is friendly and efficient. My espresso arrived speedily and came with a miniature chocolate brownie, and my friend’s green tea with mint arrived with a little vanilla cookie. The display of two different cakes was rather uninviting but the waiter informed us that a freshly baked selection would arrive from their kitchen-on-the-premises-downstairs within 15 minutes. One hour later, as we were paying the fifty riyal bill, we enquired where the range of newly baked goodies might be, at which the waiter shrugging offhandedly told us they were downstairs; but since that area is reserved for Singles, one would imagine it would have been advisable and only a small exercise of their initiative to have brought a selection upstairs from which we could have made a choice.
The Ladies was clean and relatively spacious but tiled with a repellent brown slate wall and beige marble floor – no doubt expensive, but disconcerting nevertheless.
Clinatro is my number one cafe place in Alexandria. In Egypt, I’ve always had the best mango juice ever there. Unfortunatly even though it’s on the menu in Jeddah, it wasn’t available when I visited. In Jeddah, I like the location n atmosphere. I love their pesto pasta and Italian soda. Their carrot cake is AWESOME! I think they have many interesting items on their menu that I’m willing to give them another visit to try them! I have to note that 3 items my family chose on the menu weren’t available which was disapointing and unpleasant for my family.
Well,it is a nice new place to discover but ,me and my friends did not realy like the way the food is presanted in an open fridge just when you walk in the family section,it gives the cafe a cheaper look .
The food was okay ,but nothing special,I had better sandwiches before.The presantaion of the food at the tables was not up the the standart of the place. We all expected more of it,by the time we all got our coffe it was not even hot anymore.I went back a few weeks later with my family and nothing had changed.
Just ate at cilantro and I am pleased with the decor of the place. I think the location is good and the mall I going to be a hit once the rest of the shops open.
I had the Ruben and was not so bad, but the one in Egypt is miles better. The trick was in the sauerkraut and the bread, which seemed fresher in Cairo then here.
I was told that there is a large family section which makes a good choice for families. The singles section was excellent as well. I can see a lot of people are going to make this their favorite spot.