Egyptian Food in my Town!?

Hello, my fellow Ibarakians!
Here’s a sentence I never thought I would utter during my time here in Tsuchiura City: there is an Egyptian restaurant in my town. Yeah, I was just as shocked as you probably are.
Last Tuesday, I was scrolling through Google Maps when I stumbled across the restaurant. I told my wife about it, and she was equally surprised by the news. We had a few errands to run that evening, but we unanimously decided that dinner would be at Tsuchiura’s very own Pyramid Restaurant and Café.

Pyramid Restaurant and Cafe

Pyramid Restaurant and Café is located in the Wakamatsucho area of Tsuchiura City, on the same street as Tsuchiura Don Quijote. If you plan on visiting Pyramid, I recommend going by car. The train station is quite far away, and cycling there can be a bit dangerous since cars speed down that road. Pyramid does have parking available, but it is somewhat limited, with only about four to five spaces.
The Ibaraki Eats Duo visited Pyramid earlier this week for dinner. I should mention that I know next to nothing about Egyptian food. I know about koshary, but that’s about it, and only because I tried it at the Tsukuba Festival last year.
Needless to say, both my wife and I were excited to try Egyptian cuisine for the first time. We walked into Pyramid ready to sample a variety of different dishes.

Inside

When we walked inside, we were greeted by the owner and shown to our table. At first, Pyramid had a somewhat unusual atmosphere. I got the feeling that it used to be a washoku restaurant, and you can definitely tell if you look closely around the interior. There is even a tatami room off to the side of the restaurant.
That said, I really liked what the owners did with the space. They decorated the restaurant with Egyptian memorabilia, had an Egyptian food program playing on the TV, and hung fake fruit and leaves from the ceiling to create the feeling of dining at an outdoor restaurant in Cairo. It was a lot of fun.
My wife and I settled into our seats and began looking over the menu.

The Menu

Here were my first three main takeaways from Pyramid’s menu:
First, the menu is available in Japanese, Arabic, and English.
Second, Pyramid is a halal restaurant.
Third, the menu is massive. It features Egyptian cuisine, Iranian cuisine, Indian cuisine, and more. They also serve Egyptian-style pizzas and burgers.
As we looked through everything, my wife and I had a hard time deciding what to order. I have never tried Iranian food before, so I was very tempted to give it a shot. In the end, though, we decided to stick with Egyptian cuisine for the night and ordered four different dishes for dinner.
Spoiler alert: every single dish was a winner.

Falafel

For those of you who have no idea what falafel is, it is a fritter made from uncooked chickpeas, fava beans, or a combination of both. The beans are mixed with herbs and spices, then either baked or deep-fried.
I have had falafel before, I even once had a falafel pita sandwich in Tsukuba, but I had no idea that falafel originated in Egypt or that Egyptians traditionally use fava beans instead of chickpeas. My wife is also a huge falafel fan, so she could not wait to try Pyramid’s version.
When the dish arrived at our table, it looked fantastic. The falafel was arranged in a circle over a bed of lettuce, cucumber, and tomato slices, with a dipping sauce placed in the center. I grabbed one and tried it plain first, without any sauce.
The falafel was incredible. It was crispy on the outside, warm and soft on the inside, and packed with flavor. The blend of herbs and spices exploded across my taste buds in a way that still makes me drool just thinking about it.
My wife loved the falafel as well, especially the dipping sauce. I am still not entirely sure what the sauce was, but it paired perfectly with the dish. We both were amazed at how good the falafel was, and I already know I will be ordering it again from Pyramid soon.

The Soup

Unfortunately, I do not know the name of this soup or exactly what was in it. On the menu, it simply said “soup.” What I can tell you is that it was thick, flavorful, and absolutely delicious. I want to say it was a lentil soup because it had a distinct lentil taste, possibly mixed with heavy butter or cream. Every sip was amazing, and it warmed my belly each time I drank it.
Mrs. Ibaraki Eats really enjoyed the soup as well. She mentioned that even though it was thick, it was still very smooth and easy to drink. I would love to have this soup again, but we still had several other dishes in our meal that were completely out of this world.

Koshary

If you need a carb overload, then this is the Egyptian dish for you. As I mentioned before, koshary is a popular Egyptian street food. This particular dish came with macaroni pasta, thin noodles, rice, chickpeas, lentils, tomato sauce, and fried onions. We were also given a separate vinegar sauce to pour over the koshary.
I know that from the ingredients alone this may sound like a complete car wreck of a dish to some of you, but somehow all the rice, pasta, and tomato sauce work incredibly well together, especially with the vinegar sauce. In my opinion, that sauce was the MVP of the dish.
Mrs. Ibaraki Eats loved this dish as well, although she mentioned that it made her feel full very quickly. Of course it did, it’s carbs on top of carbs! I absolutely loved Pyramid’s koshary. All the flavors blended together and exploded in my mouth, creating one huge rice-and-pasta party. I hope to have koshary again soon… unless I’m on a diet.

Hawawshi

Hawawshi is an Egyptian street food consisting of a pita pocket sandwich filled with ground meat (usually lamb or beef), onions, bell peppers, herbs, and spices. The pita and meat are then baked or cooked until the meat is fully done and the bread becomes warm and crispy.
Pyramid’s hawawshi looked absolutely amazing. Mrs. Ibaraki Eats and I could not wait to dig in. I grabbed one piece of hawawshi and tried it without the sauce that came on the plate, which was the same sauce served with our falafel. After just one bite, I immediately fell in love with it. It was incredibly meaty, while the pita bread was warm, crispy, and satisfying.
I am pretty sure the meat was beef, but the blend of spices and herbs confused my taste buds in the best possible way, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly what I was eating. Honestly, I did not even care because the entire pita sandwich was incredible. The sauce, just like with the falafel, made everything even better. I could easily eat this pita-filled deliciousness every week if time allowed. Unfortunately, I will just have to wait until my next visit to Pyramid.

After we finished our meal, we thanked the owner for the fantastic food, and our Egyptian cuisine adventure came to an end. I am so glad that Pyramid is open and sharing its food and culture here in Ibaraki, especially in my town! Mrs. Ibaraki Eats and I hope to go back soon and try some of the Iranian dishes on the menu next time.

So, if you are in the mood for some Egyptain cuisine and are in Tsuchiura City, why not give Pryamid Restaurant and Cafe a chance? Who knows? You might see us there. Trying some Iranian food and having more of that amazing hawawshi.
Enjoy!

For more information on Pryamid Restaurant and Cafe, check out their website:
https://sites.google.com/view/pyramidrestaurantcafe

For the older blog posts, check out the WIX Ibaraki Eats.

https://regaladom24.wixsite.com/website