Lucille's burgers are bust.

A couple of months ago, my older brother called me from New Haven to tell me that, according to Time magazine, the best hamburger in the world resides at Lucille's, a Maadi restaurant that is the closest thing we have here in Cairo to a greasy spoon diner.

Now as far as I am concerned, the best hamburger in the world is at Louis' Lunch in New Haven, CT, where it was invented. But I decided to give Lucille's burgers a try. Their pancakes, hash browns and eggs were fantastic, so there has to be some truth to the claim, right?

Wrong.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, but believe you me, the "imported Australian cheddar" is the worst type of cheese you can buy here, not to mention the cheapest. When melted, it leaves behind a waxy yellow glob and sweats a thick slick of vegetable oil.
The beef patty itself was nothing spectacular, in fact, it was short of ordinary, and easily surpassed by the burgers at Amo Hosny, the current wunderkind of Egyptian Fast Food. My burger arrived blackened by the griddle on the outside, and medium rare in the middle, and yet, it was still terribly dry.
As for the bun, it was neither "sweet" nor "nicely toasted" - It had a slathering of mayonnaise and was used to wipe off the grease from the griddle, so I was helped to a double dose of the Fish Sauce that is painted on the burgers as they're cooked.

Lucille's may be a decent American greasy spoon, indeed the only one in Cairo, and their breakfasts are fantastic - but I cannot extend the same compliment to their burgers. I would use the words "disappointment", "colossal" and "failure".

For the best burgers in Cairo, I recommend Route 66 also in Maadi - unfortunately, they're renovating at the moment and should be reopened within the coming months.

Stay tuned.