While most of the resorts offer the occasional traditional Egyptian food such as Fuul or Falafel on their buffets, it is worth it to venture out and taste the real thing. In Hurghada, there are a number of restaurants serving up homemade, fresh dishes that some locals swear is better than mom made, and at all of them, you would be hard-pressed to spend more than 20LE each. If the directions to some of them seem a bit sketchy, just go to the general area and ask someone. All the places mentioned are well-known enough that virtually any local can direct you.

For those in the know, there is really only one place to get proper fuul (slow-cooked broad beans) in Hurghada, and that is at Kammuna, located on Sherry Street, off of the Sheraton Road near McDonald's. (About 100 meters up the street on your left). Kammuna has a take-away counter that is busy all the time, where you can get fresh made-to-order sandwiches all served in homemade flat pocket bread. Fillings include fuul, falafel (called tameya in local dialect), white cheese with cucumbers and tomatoes and spices, mashed potatoes, pickled aubergines, baba ganoog (pureed smoked eggplant and spices, heavy on garlic), deep-fried breaded cauliflower, omelettes, and more. The fillings are all displayed behind the glass deli-style counter, so you can just point at what you want, and pay the guy at the cash register while your sandwiches are prepared. With each sandwich costing a mere 50 piasters (half a pound), you can afford to sample whatever you fancy.

If you want a sit-down experience, head next door to the air-conditioned restaurant section of Kammuna. There, in addition to your choice of the sandwich fillings served in dishes with bread on the side for dipping, you can order soups, and a range of entrees, both Egyptian and continental.

Just before you get to Kammuna you'll see a small restaurant called Mustarda, and if it's a grilled chicken sandwich (shish taouk) you're after, this is the place. For less than 10LE, you get a massive delicious sandwich with morsels of grilled-to-perfection chicken, and a side of fries. They also make a hearty "macarona bechamel" to die for.

The most popular place by far for the discerning local in search of a good meal is Summerland restaurant, located off of Sheraton Road on a nameless side street just next to the McDonald's. (Stand facing the McDonald's and go down the first street to the right of it, it will be about 50 meters up on your left). Here, you get the best lentil soup (shorbet aads) in town, thick and creamy, for just 1LE. Their fresh lemonade is worth the trip alone, cool and quenching, and also just 1LE. The place is almost always hopping around dinner time, which in Egypt means anywhere from 7pm to 12 midnight, but it is open for lunch as well. Try their spiced yogurt salad as an appetizer. Main dishes include a fabulous grilled chicken panée, a melt-in-your-mouth meat and onion tagin (slow cooked in a clay pot), excellent stuffed pigeon (think cornish game hen!), juicy kofta (ground beef kebabs), or try the roasted 1/2 duck. Don't miss the vegetables dishes and rice, at just 1.50LE each. Especially good are the stuffed vegetables (called mahshi), but get there early as they often run out of this popular dish! (Yes, it's air-conditioned!)

There are several restaurants in the Midan Saqala (Sekkala Square) area that will not disappoint. If it's seafood that you are after, the down-scale Joker restaurant on the corner with outdoor seating is popular with locals and tourists alike, and you can choose your own fish from the market below if you like, and watch them grill it with their special filling of tomatoes, lemons, onions, and spices. One block down the street towards the marina is El Mena restaurant, a newer establishment with elaborate underwater decorations and three floors of air-conditioned seating, including a coffee shop upstairs. You can choose your fish or shrimp or lobster or other shellfish from the catch of the days on ice downstairs, then enjoy an assortment of pungent appetizers as your fish is prepared to your liking: grilled, fried, or baked with their own special spices and fillings. The fun part is their "viagra soup," full of shellfish.

In the walkway behind the Ebeid supermarket is the popular Al Masri restaurant. Here you'll find the best grilled meats in town, whether it's lamb chops, beef steaks, or chicken cubes you crave. Their mahshi croum (stuffed cabbage leaves) is particularly delicious, and they also have the full range of salads and entrees typical of restaurants in the area.

If you're particularly adventurous, you can go where the salt-of-the-earth types go, across the street from the Ebeid supermarket, a place called Abu Khalig. It's high on "authentic" ambiance with roughly-hewn tables and benches in front, or cushions on floor seating with a food served on tableyas (short tables) in the back room. Here, you can get the equivalent of down-home Egyptian "soul food" without any extravagances, including on some days, kowara, the gelatinous beef knuckle soup.

On the other side of town in El Dahar, your best bet for a simple, no-frills Egyptian meal can be found at Pronto restaurant, located on a small road across the street from the row of shops between Papa's Bar II and the Shedwan hotel. Get, for example, a nice meal of salad, a grilled quarter of a chicken, vegetables, rice, and a soft drink for a mere 10LE. Beware of summer days there, as ceiling fans provide the only cooling.