Awani at Street 12 Mall: What New Cairo Diners Can Expect
Awani is officially on its way to New Cairo
New Cairo’s restaurant map is set for another notable addition after TMR announced a strategic franchising agreement with Kitopi to launch Awani and Catch 22 in Egypt for the first time. The key local detail for Fifth Settlement diners is the one that matters most: Awani’s first Egypt branch is set to open at Street 12 Mall in New Cairo, according to the companies’ announcement published on November 2, 2026.
The deal was signed by Omar Hisham Talaat, Chief Executive Officer of TMR, and Mohamad Ballout, CEO and Co-founder of Kitopi. In the same announcement, TMR said the New Cairo opening is the first step, with further branches planned in strategic locations across Egypt.
That makes this more than a routine restaurant opening. For readers following the Fifth Settlement eat-out scene area by area, it is an early signal that another Gulf-tested dining brand sees New Cairo as the right place for its Egypt debut.
Why Street 12 Mall matters for this launch
When a brand enters Egypt for the first time, its first address says a lot. Choosing Street 12 Mall in New Cairo places Awani inside one of the country’s most active consumer districts: a part of Cairo where new malls, branded dining concepts and destination cafés keep clustering around affluent residential compounds, office traffic and weekend family outings.
That is important because Awani is not being introduced as a quick delivery-only experiment. Kitopi describes the brand as a hospitality concept built around warm Middle Eastern service, a modern setting and a Levantine menu. On Kitopi’s brand pages and Awani features, the restaurant is positioned as a contemporary dine-in concept rather than just a functional casual meal.
For New Cairo specifically, that places it in a competitive but promising lane: the polished, occasion-friendly restaurant that can work for family lunches, weekday dinners and group outings in the Fifth Settlement.
What kind of restaurant is Awani?
Awani is presented by Kitopi as a contemporary Levantine eatery. In the Egypt launch announcement, the brand is described as serving dishes from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. Kitopi’s own editorial description goes further, calling Awani one of its standout Middle Eastern dining brands, with a menu built around mezze, grills, slow-cooked heritage dishes, shawarma, manakish and breakfast.
That matters because New Cairo is no stranger to Levantine food. Diners in the Fifth Settlement already know the broad category well, so novelty alone will not be enough. What Awani appears to be offering instead is a more curated version of that category: recognisable Levantine comfort dishes presented with the style and consistency of a regional multi-branch brand.
Among the dishes highlighted by Kitopi in its own Awani coverage are:
- Jordanian Mansaf
- Kebab Iskander
- Fish Siyadieh
- Romaniyye, a lentil and eggplant dish with pomegranate and cumin
- Wagyu Shawarma Beetroot Rice
Not every Gulf menu item is guaranteed to appear unchanged in Egypt, and no Egypt menu has been publicly detailed yet. But these examples help show the lane Awani operates in: not only mixed grills and mezze, but also plated Levantine dishes with a more branded, signature-driven identity.
Who is behind the Egypt move?
The expansion joins two companies with very different strengths. TMR is an Egyptian trade and retail operator whose portfolio, according to the announcement, includes brands such as Coccinelle, Calliope, Terranova, OVS, Antony Morato and WYCON. Kitopi, meanwhile, said it operates more than 80 brands across 200-plus kitchens in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.
Kitopi’s wider brand portfolio also includes concepts such as Zaroob, Operation: Falafel, Circle Café and Catch22. It acquired AWJ, the Dubai-founded F&B group behind Awani and Catch22, in 2023. That gives the Egypt opening real operational backing rather than start-up-level uncertainty.
For readers in Egypt, the practical takeaway is simple: this is not an independent one-site opening. It is a regional restaurant group entering the market through a local franchise partner with retail scale.
What Awani could add to the Fifth Settlement dining scene
1) A more polished Levantine occasion restaurant
New Cairo has plenty of places for shawarma, grills and Lebanese staples, but fewer brands that package Levantine food as a distinctly designed, contemporary social-dining experience. That is where Awani could stand out if execution matches the Gulf branches’ positioning.
2) More menu depth than the standard mixed-grill formula
If the Egypt branch keeps the spirit of Awani’s existing locations, diners may see a broader spread of Levantine dishes than the usual neighbourhood formula. Signature mains such as mansaf or siyadieh would give Fifth Settlement residents another reason to choose a sit-down meal over a familiar chain order.
3) Strong fit with New Cairo’s mall dining culture
Fifth Settlement diners often choose restaurants that are easy to combine with errands, coffee stops and family outings. A Street 12 Mall location puts Awani in a format that suits exactly that behavior: destination dining, but with easy accessibility inside a modern commercial hub.
4) A possible signal of more regional imports to come
TMR said the launch of Awani and Catch 22 is the first step in a wider collaboration with Kitopi to bring more brands to Egypt. So even for diners who may not rush to try Awani on day one, the opening matters as a market signal. If it performs well, New Cairo could see more Gulf-developed casual and premium-casual concepts entering the area.
What to watch before opening day
There are still key details not yet publicly confirmed, including the exact opening date, fit-out timeline, final Egypt menu, pricing and whether the first branch will launch with breakfast, delivery or full dine-in service from day one. Those are the practical details that will determine whether Awani becomes a regular Fifth Settlement favourite or mainly a curiosity-driven first visit.
Price positioning will be especially important in New Cairo. To compete well, Awani will likely need to land in the sweet spot between everyday chain dining and expensive special-occasion restaurants. The brand’s regional identity suggests it will aim for a premium-casual bracket rather than a bargain play.
The New Cairo verdict, for now
Based on what has been officially announced so far, Awani’s arrival at Street 12 Mall is one of the clearer restaurant openings to watch in Fifth Settlement. It has a defined cuisine focus, a known regional operator, a named Egyptian franchise partner and a confirmed first location in New Cairo.
For local diners, the strongest reason to pay attention is not simply that a new restaurant is opening. It is that the brand appears designed for exactly the sort of audience that shapes New Cairo’s food scene today: residents looking for reliable dine-in comfort, polished presentation and a menu that feels familiar enough for repeat visits but distinctive enough to justify going out.
If TMR and Kitopi execute the launch well, Street 12 Mall could gain a Levantine restaurant with enough identity to stand out in the Fifth Settlement crowd. And in an area where new openings arrive constantly, that is what will matter most.