Best Places to Eat in Sharm El Sheikh
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Sharm’s dining runs from the resort international buffet at one end to genuinely local Egyptian cooking at the Old Market at the other, with Naama Bay’s restaurant strip somewhere in between. Here’s how to eat well at each level.
Egyptian staples worth ordering
Koshari, widely considered Egypt’s national dish, layers rice, macaroni and lentils under a spiced tomato sauce with garlic-vinegar, chickpeas and crispy fried onions. Ful medames, stewed fava beans with olive oil and cumin, is the classic breakfast, scooped up with bread. Ta’meya, Egyptian-style falafel made from fava beans rather than the chickpea version common elsewhere, turns up plain or in a pita sandwich with tahini. Molokhia, a green soup of chopped jute leaves in broth with garlic and coriander, and shawarma, shredded meat rolled in pita, round out the everyday lineup. For dessert, Om Ali, a warm bread pudding made with milk, coconut and raisins, is the thing to order on almost any Sharm menu.
The Old Market’s fish cafés
Sharm el-Maya, the Old Market district, is the place for grilled Red Sea seafood and Egyptian street food away from resort pricing, including dedicated fish cafés serving the day’s catch and grill spots like El Masrien for Egyptian grills. Expect to bargain a little and to pay in EGP rather than card at the smaller stalls.
Naama Bay’s international scene
Naama Bay carries the widest spread of restaurant choices, from Egyptian grills to Indian (Maharaja is a known name here) and other international cuisines, plus seafood spots like Fares Seafood in Horus Mall. This is also where most resort nightlife and shisha cafés cluster in the evening.
A note on pork and alcohol
Despite what a menu occasionally lists, pork isn’t actually sold in Sharm; “pork” on a menu is typically salted beef instead, worth knowing if you were hoping otherwise. Alcohol is available and normal within resort grounds and most Naama Bay restaurants, but keep it off the street and away from mosques and the Old Market, where a more modest, alcohol-free norm applies.
Practical eating notes
Tap water isn’t potable, so stick to bottled water throughout your stay, including for brushing teeth if you’re being careful. A 10-15% service charge is often already added to restaurant bills, so check before tipping again on top. Vegetarian options are easy to find given how central ful medames, ta’meya and molokhia already are to Egyptian cooking, so this isn’t a destination where meat-heavy menus are unavoidable.
For where these restaurants sit relative to a hotel base, our best places to stay guide breaks down each district, and our main Sharm el-Sheikh guide covers the currency and bargaining basics that come up most at the Old Market.
One concrete tip: eat your Old Market fish dinner earlier in the evening rather than late. The catch and the crowd are both better before 8pm, and the walk back to Naama Bay or your resort is easier while there’s still some daylight left.