Culinary Coups, Gustatory Grievances and Epicurean Excellence in Cairo
February 9, 2012 Leave a Comment
There *will* be a recipe at the end of this, but I encourage you to read every bit of what I’m about to say because, well, this blog would be pointless without my pearls of wisdom. It *is* my blog, and I’m allowed to think it’s the greatest thing since my own experiments with German-style soft pretzels. More on that in a later post; but by all means, read on! Read more of this post
March 31, 2010 1 Comment
Be Warned: This is a Cellphone picture
You know the feeling. Great elation, a sense of accomplishment, of a great weight lifted up from off your shoulders. It’s the kind of feeling that demands to be celebrated and commemorated. The occasion, my friends, was my recent divorce from a particularly horrible employer; and I decided to celebrate and commemorate the event the only way I know how: by going out for a meal. Having never been to the Safir Hotel in Dokki before, I strolled around the hotel lobby and chatted with the concierge. I learned that they have an open buffet restaurant, a Lebanese restaurant and an outdoor café. But none of these were as advertised as “Asia Boutique” was; and it there that I decided to spend my patronage.
March 19, 2010 4 Comments
Last week, half a dozen friends and I decided to make an event out of a night at the movies. So, before our scheduled viewing of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland at the Golden Stars Cinema, we settled on Japanese food at Shogun in the nearby Intercontinental Hotel. Since my favorite Japanese restaurant, Okamoto in Mohandessin, closed down, I’ve been on the lookout for a restaurant that serves Shabu-Shabu. So after sitting down at one of the 3 teppanyaki bars – am I the only one who thinks that teppanyaki bars are a tad overused and cliched? – I searched the half dozen page menu for Shabu Shabu.
No Dice. Sigh. The standard fare on offer and the teppanyaki bars gave me a sinking feeling I was in for a run of the mill Egyptian interpretation of Japanese Food at premium prices. Reinforcing this dread was the menu; the first page was meant to be a story about the history of shoguns in Japan, but was cut off mid sentence when the space on the page ran out. I asked the maitre D where the rest of the story was and he jokingly remarked that the history of Shoguns was short-lived.
March 17, 2010 Leave a Comment
My older brother was on a one day visit from Boston last month, and being an avid reader of this site, wanted to treat me to something I hadn’t tried yet. Immediately we agreed that our meal would have to be one of cooked flesh. This of course meant we were headed to a steakhouse. The JW Steakhouse was a venue I was reserving for a big occasion; but since I hadn’t seen my brother in over a year, we decided that it was worthy.
March 16, 2010 Leave a Comment
In May 2008, Egypt Today reviewed Okashi, and declared that it was Cairo’s best sushi restaurant. Last summer, a close friend (who also happened to be averse to eating meat; but quivered at the thought of eating sushi) and I decided to try it out. So, with fat wallets and empty stomachs, we made our reservations for a late afternoon meal bathed in the golden glow of the setting sun overlooking the Nile. Good conversation was guaranteed, and, so we hoped, was the food.
December 26, 2009 3 Comments
Gadzooks, Zounds and Egads!
It’s taken about 6 months, but I’ve finally hit 3000 unique visitors! and just in time for christmas. To celebrate, I’m going to watch Heston Blumenthal’s Christmas Feast again. At times, this man moves me to tears. Other times, he drives me to insanity.
Keep on clicking, foodies and cairenes; and post a comment or two that makes sense! Sayed Kawawi (name withheld, but I know who it is) has the palate and brain size of a dinosaur; but at least he’s got something to say. Join in the fun; I may be inclined to respond.
Nuked. 30 seconds on Medium Power
December 26, 2009 7 Comments
<Originally published in CAMPUS magazine, August 2009>
Summer is here. School is out. Good times will be had by all. So instead of doing the same old routine, why not change it up a little while you’re still in Cairo? Wake up early and go have breakfast with the usual suspects you hang out with.
More and more restaurants are offering breakfast options on their menus, especially American/European styled fare. Unfortunately for me, writing up these kinds of reviews exposes the inverse relationship between my wallet’s fatness and my own; but it is work I must do. Here’s a quick rundown of my favorite places to get my morning fix. Notably absent are coffee house chains, like Cilantro, Beano’s, Starbucks, Second Cup Etc. We’re talking restaurants, baby; not some prepackaged, vacuum packed, sterile airport lounge.
And please leave the laptops at home – there should be no such thing as a “working breakfast”. I don’t care if you’re crunching numbers over coffee, Googling over a bowl of grapefruit or browsing Facebook; with a forkful of scrambled eggs; you need to relax. No one likes a party pooper, and computing over crumpet means you’re wound way too tight.
December 2, 2009 1 Comment
<First Published in G-Mag, Issue #53>
The people behind “VIP” want you to feel part of an exclusive and rarefied club; the Elite, the Chosen Few. But instead of employing bouncers at the door, and conjuring up fictitious minimum charges, they do it the old fashioned way: just hide the door. It’s reminiscent of a prohibition era Chicago. It took me two trips to the Cairo tower to get in; making a reservation wasn’t easy – VIP doesn’t have a direct line. Your best bet is to pray the Cairo Tower operator will answer and then redirect you to the Restaurant Manager.
August 16, 2009 8 Comments
If you grab a copy of the menus from the 4 big fast food franchises in Egypt [McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee's], you’ll count over 100 outlets between them in Cairo alone. That is alot of prefrozen crap.
After eating another cardboard cheeseburger from McDonald’s, I came up with an idea in the spirit of the upcoming month of Ramadan.
Mad Photoshop Skillz, right?
For 30 days, I will not eat a single meal from any fast food joint. And I want you to join me. The rules are simple; do not eat a single meal from any of the restaurants you see in the banner. Secondly, vote i the poll, just so I know how many people are supporting this mad plan of mine.
Cooking time: 18 minutes on low heat
August 15, 2009 4 Comments
I reviewed Tamarai at the Nile Towers earlier this year and did not enjoy it. I will tell anyone who is generous enough to listen that Tamarai is the embodiment of pretentiousness and should be avoided if you are going there for the food. I still maintain that the Bar is quite good, but by no means should it be considered as a Restaurant that serves good food.
The Daily News Egypt has seen it fit to interview the Managing Partner of Tamarai, Mr. Vincent Guillou. The man is not a Chef; he is a restauranteur – it is very clear in the way he talks about Tamarai. He seemed more passionate about the misguided decor than about the food he allows to leave his kitchen. Especially galling is his claim that he wants to bring food to “the people”. Last time I checked, Tamarai was not hosting a Ma2edat Rahman (free dinners for the underprivileged). Mr. Guillou even has the audacity to refer to himself as Egyptian – nay, Egyptian-French – yet nowhere in his food do I see an Egyptian influence.
I’ll let the video do the talking. I’m going to sit back in disgust and watch the comments roll in.
Cooking Time: 4 minutes
