Sabaya is a stylish Lebanese restaurant in the glamorous Semiramis Intercontinental hotel. It serves good quality Lebanese cuisine, beer and Lebanese wine by the bottle, but all this comes at a price. That might be why it’s popular with the hotel’s Gulf Arab guests rather than the elite of Cairene society.

Sabaya offers tasty mezze and generous fish or mixed grill mains. The bread is excellent, although more Egyptian in style than Lebanese. The meat sambousek (pastries) were also delicious, but the waraq ainab (stuffed vine leaves) were disappointing. My fillet of salmon with saffron rice was lovely and other main dishes also looked good. I was treated to a complimentary mahlabaya (milk pudding) for dessert which was a nice gesture, but it’s naturally quite a heavy pudding so I was glad I didn’t order it.

When we were there, distant ululating for a happy couple on their wedding day could be heard from the hotel lobby below, but the restaurant was calm and tranquil. The staff were very courteous and precise and the restaurant was elegantly furnished. It’s a lovely hotel restaurant, but lacks the charm of a smaller private enterprise.