Mediterranean Restaurant Almería is a Living Archive in Cinema Radio

CairoScene

3 days ago

With a menu that spans the Mediterranean, from Aleppo to Armenia, Libya, Spain, Egypt, and Lebanon, each dish tells a story, whilst inviting new narratives to unfold.
The restaurant industry has become fast and individualistic, and is continually accelerating. A 'you eat yours, I'll eat mine culture' is swiftly encroaching on what was once a deeply woven ritual of sharing. Restaurant concepts come and go in rapid succession; ephemerality is no longer a side effect but a prerequisite for entering the restaurant business. In this race to keep up with ever-changing trends, restaurants pile on hybrid fusions, unexpected twists, and often, bewildering reinventions, tradition is being drowned out, slowly fading into the background. 'Almería is a response, an antidote to this acceleration and individualisation,' Reem Aziz, the managing partner at Mediterranean restaurant Almería, tells SceneEats.
Tucked inside Cinema Radio on Talaat Harb Street, Almería stands as a downtown anomaly. Why, you might ask? While Wust El Balad has morphed into a maze of the new, crowded with flashy, imported concepts, Almería charts a different course. 'We're not trying to create something brand new,' Aziz says. 'Why would we, when what we already have is sensational, timeless?' That something she refers to is the Mediterranean: its culture, its culinary heritage, its layered, intricate history. A legacy rich with innovation, both celebrated and still waiting to be discovered.
Almería stands in quiet defiance of trends, and in doing so, it reminds us that tradition, history, and heritage never go out of style. They simply endure with a simplicity that is layered with nuance and a quiet elegance. 'We set out to craft a menu and a space that serves as a living archive of the Mediterranean,' Executive Chef Elissa Aboutasse says. 'It's a celebration of the four elemental threads that weave through its diverse culinary cultures: wheat, olives, olive oil, and grapes.' Every dish on the menu includes these ingredients. The space itself is an extension of that ethos; intimate, textured, and warm, rhyming with the bustle of a Spanish tapas bar and spirit of a Turkish meyhane, where food and conversation flow in equal measure.
Yet, this archive is not static, it's alive, ever-evolving, and in constant dialogue with the past, all while holding tradition at its core. 'It took us over a year to refine, curate, and craft a menu that spans the Mediterranean, from Aleppo to Armenia, Libya, Spain, Egypt, and Lebanon,' Aboutasse explains. Each dish is a story in itself, yet it also invites new narratives to unfold. 'We designed the menu, literally speaking. But truth be told, we didn't design it at all. History and tradition did that for us.'
Almería's approach is of reinterpretation, not reinvention. 'We take fundamental Mediterranean ingredients and traditional culinary techniques, then play with them,' Aboutasse says. Take, for example, chargrilled aubergine, which serves as a unifying thread throughout the menu. Blended with tahini and olive oil, it transforms into the timeless, smoky moutabbal. In another iteration, breadcrumbed, deep-fried aubergine is layered over a bed of homemade black garlic labneh, creating the restaurant's signature eggplant Milanese, a dish that gently fuses culinary lineages from across the sea.
'We chose the name Almería because it is a singular, simple word that connotes and morphologically epitomises this notion of blend,' Aziz says. Named after a city in Spain that had been strongly influenced by Arabic culture, Almería literally means 'the mirror' in Arabic, invoking the way the city reflects the waters of the sea. When it comes to the restaurant itself, this name further invokes the way Mediterranean countries are all bound physically by the sea, refracting and echoing each other culturally and historically. The word also morphologically bears resonance to Arabic and Spanish, invoking the blend of Arabic and European. Almería, a singular word, speaks and sings volumes.
At the heart of this culinary archive is the mouneh room. For those unfamiliar, mouneh is a Lebanese-style pantry, brimming with ferments and pickles that, while varying across regions, share a common Mediterranean thread. 'In Lebanon, mouneh originated from abundance; the surplus of seasonal produce, like lemons and aubergines,' Aboutasse explains. But this pantry is more than just a collection of ingredients; it is the soul of the restaurant's menu. 'Our hot sauce is made from in-house fermented chilies, strawberries, and dark chocolate. We ferment our own black garlic and lemons - most dishes incorporate something from our mouneh.'
Wheat, too, grounds the menu, symbolically and practically. 'So many mezze dishes are held together with bread,' Aziz reflects. 'It's an invitation to share, to indulge together'. Sourdough pita, manouche, pizzas, and flatbreads aren't sides. 'They're integral to the rhythm of the meal: something to pass, to tear, to anchor conversation.'
Driven by the belief that an archive should be dynamic - active, inclusive, and ever-expanding - Almería is designed to be a living space, one that grows alongside the community. 'We aim to use Almería as a platform for a variety of community initiatives, fostering engagement with Mediterranean culinary history, culture, and tradition,' Aziz explains. To date, Almería has hosted a Haneen's Kitchen Iftar, a Mother-Daughter chef-duo Moroccan Iftar by Sara Moullablad, and an exhibition showcasing the work of an Algerian artist. Plans are in motion for more culinary workshops, performances, and installations.
'The vision is to cultivate a balanced, sustained relationship between the restaurant and its community. We invite stories from our guests and use those stories to shape our menu. We give them a map and ask them to share tales of unique, traditional dishes from their regions. This process helps us keep the archive active, alive,' Aziz says. 'We welcome everyone to Almería, to immerse themselves in tradition. We invite them to bring their stories, and to add a new chapter with a memory from the past.'