Louly’s Restaurant: Authentic Egyptian Cuisine

By Jordana Levine, Arts Contributor

Since the Spartan Restaurant on Quinpool Road closed last spring, there has been a void in the lives of many students. The place we used to go for a cheap, greasy breakfast is gone, and I’ve been resorting to making eggs and hash browns at home after a night of drinking, rather than risk going somewhere unfamiliar.

A couple of friends and I decided it was time to try the breakfast menu at Louly’s Restaurant, the Egyptian restaurant that replaced the Spartan. We walk there in the rain, our tummies yearning for something comforting to soak up the remains of last night’s party.

When we arrive, the restaurant is nearly deserted, a contrast to the bustle of the Spartan. It has been redone in warm colours and decorated with pretty light fixtures. Despite the emptiness, it has the cozy feel of the family restaurant. We order three different dishes.

The breakfast special ($5.99) comes with two eggs, turkey bacon, potatoes and toast. I get my eggs over easy; the yolks are runny and the whites are fully cooked, the way it should be. The potatoes are thinly sliced into crispy golden circles. While they lack the grease that I often crave in a hangover breakfast, and need a little bit of salt or ketchup, they’re delicious when used to scoop up the other two dishes.

The Egyptian breakfast ($6.99) comes with an overwhelming serving of foul, a slow-cooked mixture of fava beans, onions and tomatoes rich with spices.  There is a single falafel ball that crunches and melts in your mouth. It comes with a plate of warm pita, but we have more fun dipping our potato rounds in the foul.

The cheese and tomato ($6.99) comes with the same pita. On its own, the flavourful bowl of feta, tomatoes and olive oil could be daunting, but it is a great addition to the other two meals, mixing nicely with the foul and potatoes. The smoothness of the oil compliments the crumbly saltiness of the cheese.

Mix-and-match works best here if you want to enjoy more than just the basic eggs-and-bacon breakfast, and we enjoy nibbling on each other’s meals.

Although Louly’s doesn’t have the same feel as the former Spartan that so many students flocked to after a night of partying, or simply to get a cheap breakfast, it gives us some new things to try and cures our hangovers just as well.