{"id":45173,"date":"2026-04-17T13:57:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T05:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=45173"},"modified":"2026-04-17T13:57:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T05:57:58","slug":"how-chinese-food-took-root-in-cairo-from-60s-peking-restaurant-to-egyptianised-dishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=45173","title":{"rendered":"How Chinese food took root in Cairo, from 60s Peking Restaurant to \u2018Egyptianised\u2019 dishes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The steamed dumplings at Peking Restaurant in El Sheikh Zayed City, Cairo, have a filling of soft and salty minced beef inside thick skins, similar to boiled Northern Chinese <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">shuijiao<\/em>, but even more sturdy. The two dipping sauces served with it are tomato-based; one a thin ketchup, the other a far thicker, spicy sauce studded with chilli seeds.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Instead of chopsticks, knives and forks are set on tables in the dining room, decorated with wooden Chinese lattice work on the ceiling and traditional scroll paintings hanging on the walls.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">This branch of Peking Restaurant is one of nine dotted across the Egyptian capital. El Sheikh Zayed is one of Cairo\u2019s new cities, built three decades ago on the west bank of the Nile River. It is part of the Giza Governorate, which includes the Sphinx, the Pyramids and the spectacular new <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Grand Egyptian Museum<\/span>, which fully opened in November 2025.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">While not quite as old as the Pyramids, the first Peking Restaurant was launched in 1963 by Yan Hongyah. His son Hany Yan now owns the chain.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cWe were the first Asian fast food in Cairo, likely the first of its kind in Egypt,\u201d Yan says.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-12vv9w2 e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Steamed beef dumplings at Peking Restaurant in El Sheikh Zayed City, Cairo, Egypt. In keeping with religious customs, pork is not served in the restaurant. Photo: Victoria Burrows\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/04\/15\/553f764b-8411-482c-8e8f-20f0ce2dc8df_2a48f19f.jpg\" title=\"Steamed beef dumplings at Peking Restaurant in El Sheikh Zayed City, Cairo, Egypt. In keeping with religious customs, pork is not served in the restaurant. Photo: Victoria Burrows\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Steamed beef dumplings at Peking Restaurant in El Sheikh Zayed City, Cairo, Egypt. In keeping with religious customs, pork is not served in the restaurant. Photo: Victoria Burrows<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-12vv9w2 e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mixed fried noodles at a Peking Restaurant in Cairo. Photo: Victoria Burrows\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/04\/15\/b96e6241-dc69-4614-a470-0e10cc14675c_2a48f19f.jpg\" title=\"Mixed fried noodles at a Peking Restaurant in Cairo. Photo: Victoria Burrows\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Mixed fried noodles at a Peking Restaurant in Cairo. Photo: Victoria Burrows<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Yan Hongyah left China at a time of turbulence, with the Nationalists and Communists vying for power, and the growing Japanese aggression that culminated in 1937 with the second Sino-Japanese war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/food-drink\/article\/3350158\/how-chinese-food-took-root-cairo-60s-peking-restaurant-egyptianised-dishes?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The steamed dumplings at Peking Restaurant in El Sheikh Zayed City, Cairo, have a filling of soft and salty minced beef inside thick skins, similar&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[16160,20731,107,100,20732,108,9431,476,6716],"class_list":["post-45173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-60s","tag-cairo","tag-chinese","tag-dishes","tag-egyptianised","tag-food","tag-peking","tag-restaurant","tag-root","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}