As I walked along the leafy streets of Tay Ho in Hanoi, Vietnam I heard a faint, but familiar, sound coming from nearby. Scooters and cars whizzed past in a chaotic manner, beeping their horns in a way that’s not too unusual for those acquainted with Cairo’s streets. As I got closer to the source of the sound, I couldn’t help but smile: a large mural of Egyptian King Mohamed ‘Mo’ Salah greeted me at the entrance of ‘Al Sultan Restaurant & Café’ (Al Sultan) with the soothing, but upbeat, voice of Amr Diab playing in the background. Amr Diab’s voice, along with the scent of falafel (or taameya) in the air, saw me walking through the open doors of Al Sultan without hesitation, as if by second nature. Al Sultan first opened in April 2018 in Tay Ho, a lakeside area popular with foreigners living in Hanoi. Its first location in Tay Ho was shuttered after the Egyptian owners, Ibrahim and Dr Mostafa, encountered problems with the landlord along with a decision by local authorities to expand the road, disrupting their venture. Ibrahim and his Vietnamese wife, whom he…
The Egyptian Restaurant in Vietnam that is a Home for All Arabs
February 24, 2020
