Where to eat EGYPT 🇪🇬 Zürich: Pyramids

Pyramids

Werdstrasse 99, Zürich

Published April 29, 2025 · by Amanda Rivkin Häsler

What we ordered: For three people, a meze plate for three people (which was charged as it was listed on the menu for two people with an additional portion added), one order of koshari and one order of lamb shawarma. To drink we had four small beers and a single liter bottle of mineral water.

Cost: 125.50 CHF / €133 / $150

Pyramids is a lovely neighborhood establishment with friendly service and colorful décor. We met an old friend in this cozy spot and made an evening of it. Georg was in his military uniform and ordered a beer to start when the waiter joked in a most friendly manner that it was a relief to see as it must mean we are not at war. It was a little something to calm the nerves at the start of a meal that was served succinctly and where everything was tasteful.

As our vegetarian friend was not too hungry, we opted for a meze platter for the table to try a little bit of as much of everything as possible. The three spreads included baba ghanoush, yogurt dip and hummus and was topped off with falafel and triangle-shaped spinach pies.

The falafel was the best in my opinion, fresh and warm and very crispy on the outside. Of the spreads, I preferred the baba ghanoush most, but to each their own. The gentlemen seemed rather pleased with the spinach pies.

All the dips were served over thin slices of cucumbers which was a nice trick to pick up the last bits of flavor on the plate without scraping pita across the serving dish. Garnished with thin beetroot, it was well presented and rather flavorful.

For the entrees, I had to try koshari for the first time as it is the national dish of Egypt. In Egypt, it is a popular street food consisting of macaroni, some lentils and garbanzo beans and then topped with tomato and garlic and spicy sauces and garnished with a pile of caramelized onions. It was hugely flavorful but also huge. At Pyramids, they topped it only with tomato sauce and left it to the customer to add the additional garlic and spicy sauces, a nice way to prevent mild European tastes from having any gripes but as a lover of both garlic and spice, I piled both on and indulged fully.

Koshari appears to be Egypt’s answer to something far more local to Switzerland, namely älplermagronen, or Alp macaroni, though more flavorful and definitely more spicy. Älplermagronen is a bit like Switzerland’s answer to macaroni and cheese, though with potatoes and often, strangely in my view, apple sauce. Basically, it’s carb city but a mix of complex and not so complex carbs (the macaroni).

Honestly, I prefer the Egyptian koshari as it is much more flavorful between the lentils and tomatoes and garlic and spicy sauces and impactful, though rather obviously missing the cheese. Needless to say, a huge bowl of koshari is obviously a lot of food.

While it was vegetarian, our friend was full after a few meze so sadly, much of it was left behind. I was not a member of the clean plate club at Pyramids. It is something to note, though, that even a small serving of koshari fills one up fast. No doubt this is part of its charm in a land of low incomes and big families. 

Georg ordered his favorite staple of Middle Eastern cuisine, the lamb shawarma. He said it was very soft and made interesting use of lightly fried onions that were tender which served to bring out the flavors of the meat and peppers in equal measure. Yes, there were peppers, so not a place or a people with a mild palette. He added it was tasty but not heavy and the lamb meat was light and delicate. It came served with Egyptian rice which was also lightly fried with just a hint of cumin to taste.

How to get to Egypt from Switzerland:

By car, it is approximately 52 hours’ drive from the Swiss capital of Bern to the Egyptian one of Cairo through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and Jordan before entering Egypt via ferry on the Gulf of Aqaba through the Sinai. The route is perilous at best so seek alternate means of transport with the trickiest parts of the route consisting of post-civil war (or perhaps a later stage of that war) Syria and the uncertain security picture in the Sinai.

There is no possibility of travel by train on this route.

By air, only Swiss Air operates a nonstop flight from Zürich to Cairo and from Geneva, only EgyptAir. It is about four hours from both cities to Cairo by air. Additional routes with one transfer are possible on Aegean, Air France, Austrian Airlines, Iberia, Ita Airways, Pegasus and Turkish Airlines from Zürich. All flights with a transfer between Switzerland and Cairo take between five to ten hours with layovers factored in.

How many Egyptians are in Switzerland: More than 2,500

Distance between Bern and Cairo: 4,800 km

Distance from Pyramids to Cairo: 4,683 km

Come Friday: earn how to make Egypt's national dish, koshari, and about its origins.

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