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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 May - 2 June 1999 Issue No. 431 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 May - 2 June 1999 Issue No. 431
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Living Features Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Chain reaction
By Andrew SteeleAnd yet another pizza parlour. Aren't ya just sick of 'em? Springing up all over town with very little variation on a rather hackneyed old theme. Until Pizza Express, that is. "The Pizza Express story begins in 1965 in Soho, London," says its publicity, enlighteningly. "Since then it has grown into a network of 170 restaurants," it goes on, and indeed new additions include venues in Maadi, Mohandessin, Nasr City and Heliopolis. It was the Heliopolitan portal we chose to cross.
I like a warm welcome on my entrance, and Pizza Express provides one. We were greeted and seated in a trice by a member of the very affable wait-staff and large single card menus soon followed. The décor is very minimalist -- plain white walls, a ceiling which undulates in sweeping rolls to cleverly conceal the innards of the central air-conditioning system. The tables are widely spaced and match the chairs and the skirting by being done in that ubiquitous style ploy -- dark wood. The kitchen is clearly visible from the dining area to allow you to see people with their fingers in your dinner. Thankfully, dough aerobatics are evidently discouraged.
The menu is simple but thorough, showcasing the pizzas, but with other pizza parlour staples such as lasagne and garlic bread gracing the peripheries. We chose the doughball drizzled with garlic butter and gratinated with mozzarella to start, and well did it bode, for it was a piece of flat, oval, soft, floury bread, wonderfully moistened with very garlicky butter, and topped with a sensible portion of mozzarella, which had been browned to a tee. Marvellous stuff it was too, and got our collective salivary juices flowing.
Next came the pizzas. Neither your nasty doughy thick crust pizzas made of blotting paper, nor your meagre, dry, thin crust pizzas made of old cardboard these. Oh no. Something far more stylish, namely, a very valiant and certainly delicious take on that most illusive of entities (in Cairo certainly): the Italian-style pizza. A properly unleavened crust, good, home-made tomato sauce, a generous but not overwhelming amount of cheese, and deliciously fresh topping ingredients, which make all the difference.
I decided to go for cholesterol and chose the Pizza Quatro Formaggio. As is my wont, I added extra mushrooms. My companion selected the Napoletana -- mozzarella, tomato sauce, anchovies, and olives. Both were equally fine, although my cheeses were not readily discernible. The olives on the Napoletana were large, firm and black and had been pitted, but otherwise untampered with. They gave an immensely dark and rich flavour, which was a happy bedfellow with the little anchovy fillets and piquant sauce.
Two flasks of olive oil stood on condiment duty, one containing chilli and bayleaf, the other rosemary and garlic. We drizzled away with great aplomb. Not forgetting the great big pepper mill that preceded the fare, this was indeed a very good pizza experience. Desserts are present too. From the dessert section stalwart of the Crème Caramel to the Italian restaurant stalwart of the Tirami Su. I debated about the latter, but concluded that since Pizza Express is sadly dry, the thing wouldn't be swimming in brandy as it should be, and therefore declined.
A very worthy meal in very pleasant surroundings, and nice to see some Soho-styled competition to the American pizza titans. Pizza Express don't deliver as of yet, so you'll have to visit them for the privilege. Pizzas for two with garlic doughballs, lemon juice and a Coke came to LE47. 'Pizza as it should be' as they say in their tag line.
Pizza Express, 16 Merghani Street, opposite Heliopolis Club, Heliopolis
Tel: 4505871
