Khufu's, which overlooks Egypt's pyramids, ended the three-year reign of Dubai’s Orfali Bros when it claimed the top spot at the Middle East and North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards on Tuesday night.
“The Orfali brothers are our brothers also,” Mostafa Seif, executive chef at Khufu's, told The National following its win. Giovanni Bolandrini, founder and chief executive, added that the Syrian trio behind the famed UAE restaurant “are our friends and they deserve everything”.
The show of support by Seif and Bolandrini highlights the restaurants' shared mission: to place their heritage cuisine, with a modern twist, on the global scene.
“We wanted to create a new kind of Egyptian cuisine with different and fresh ideas, and we wanted our food to have people look at Egypt in a new way,” says Seif.
Bolandrini, who is Italian but has lived in Egypt since 2001, adds: “Five years ago, when we started, I just wanted the world to recognise Egyptian cuisine and for our restaurant to be on the map. Well, now we’re not just on the map, we're number one.”
At the 2025 ceremony, Khufu's received the One to Watch Award, was named the best restaurant in Egypt and ranked fourth overall. But coming first this year is a relief, not added pressure, says Bolandrini. “Pressure is there every day … winning is just the completion of the mission we are doing.”
Seif, the mastermind behind the dishes that helped Khufu's secure the top spot, has his favourites. They start with the breakfast platter, which includes fava beans, smoked aubergine, home-made marmalade and cottage cheese.
However, he recommends that new visitors choose one of the restaurant's set menus, as “it gives you a real taste of Egyptian cuisine and where we want to take it, from appetisers to the dessert. It's a culinary journey”.
Both men acknowledge that dining isn't just about the food, however. Bolandrini describes how he rates spots to eat, saying that if you're not warmly welcomed, “we already have a problem”.
It's this approach that makes him admire the Orfali brothers so much. “The kitchen is run like an army … From the cleaning, how they store things, how they make the food, how the people are presented,” he says. Sharing a similar outlook with the Dubai restaurant means that “when they win, it's as if we have won”, he adds.
While 2026 was Khufu's year, the ceremony means more to the team than just the prize itself. In a time of continuing regional unrest, Seif acknowledges the importance of people from many countries coming together.
“I always thought that food is the language that ultimately brings people together, everybody understands food and shows their culture and traditions through food,” he says. “So we are all here to share our culture with each other.”
