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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 July 1999 Issue No. 438 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 July 1999 Issue No. 438
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Tusk to tusk
By Peter SnowdonWhen you think of Tuscany, you think of broad swathes of light draped over dark green yew trees, the mist evaporating off the Arno in the early morning, the oblique ray that glances down from some high window to graze the marble columns of a church, caress the muscular thigh of a statue or pick out a small pile of leather-bound books in the corner of a study.
When you think of the Tuscany restaurant in the Marriott, however, you don't think of any of these things. The Tuscany doesn't have light, only lighting. It is buried deep in Princess Eugenie's great mausoleum by the Nile like a trattoria in a Belle Epoque tomb. The windows stand open, not onto a cobbled street filled with motorini and the smell of warm bread, but onto the equally tranquil expanse of JD's Steak House, and beyond it the Piano Bar. As a setting for a high-end French restaurant, it might work rather well. But for an Italian restaurant, it's something of a non-starter. It would take an awful lot from the food -- a lot of spontaneity, a lot of passion -- to overcome the plush corporate-patrician classiness, and restore some sense of wild boar, high art and uncomplicated living.
This is a shame, because the food is rather good, in its period-print-in-a-tasteful-frame sort of way, and the service is both efficient and charming. I lunched there at the end of a long hot afternoon. Before we could order drinks, a waiter was pouring olive oil, balsamic vinegar and grated parmesan onto our side plates. An olive paste was also provided, and a small amount of foccacia for dipping. It was all very good -- though if the oil is really up to scratch, there's no need to bother with anything else.
For starters, we shared an insalata toscana, half a portion of rigatoni Tuscany, and a risotto verde. The risotto was bland, watery and unattractive, which is disgraceful: risotto is the heart of Italian cooking -- far more essential than pasta or pizza -- and, when done well, is one of the most intense experiences known to man. (Women may beg to differ.)
The salad was as interesting as it sounded, mixing artichoke, sun-dried tomatoes and marinated zucchini with fried mozzarella. But it remained the sum of its parts, and some of those parts were distinctly uneven: the mozzarella was dry and rubbery, and the tomatoes had been reduced to the consistency of old leather.
The rigatoni was delicious, however. Served in a cream sauce with fried asparagus, white beans and romano cheese, it had all the right intensity, without any of the sickliness that mars so many attempts to recreate such dishes.
The meat course again brought mixed opinions, leaning towards the positive. The meat itself, in every case, was very fine, especially the carre di agnello al ginepro, in which the lamb is flamed with gin, then wrapped in a sauce of garlic, rosemary and juniper berries. Both the veal medallions and the scaloppine were excellent too; but both were undermined somewhat by the polenta, a potato pancake made of wet felt -- not the way to do it at all.
The Tuscany is a very nice restaurant, and more authentic than most. But it's still Italian-cooking-by-the-book, when it should be from the heart. Dinner for three, including a rather good fruit tart, soft drinks and coffee, came to LE268. You can go a lot further, and do a lot worse.
The Tuscany, Cairo Marriott Hotel, Saray Al-Gezira Street, Zamalek
Tel:3408888
