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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Wheel of fortune
By Injy El-KashefThe ancients knew everything. With the exception of ultra-modern technology, not one aspect of our human life seems to have passed unnoticed, unlabelled and unmentioned by ancient civilisations. They did not need to go all the way up to the Muqattam to see proof of Fortuna's blindness; they had predicted it thousands of years ago.
Fortuna was blind because she did not bestow material success on a necessarily deserving or hard-working person, but simply at random. That is why Mazazeek, from the very first minute of its opening, has become an instant success with the Muqattam community. That is not to say that it has no empirical reason for success, however; simply that it is possible, philosophically speaking, that it would have been equally successful for no reason whatsoever had Fortuna willed so.
Mazazeek, the name being one of the few negative details, opened two weeks ago on the corner of a main Muqattam street. It is all in the open air, in a garden of sorts, with lots of chairs and tables and people and children and shishas all over the place. Very basic, this Mazazeek, it offers good food, good fruit cocktails, good shishas in a pleasant summer atmosphere, where bored families may find a nice little change from their routine existence -- and more: charming predictions about their future.
The sandwiches took some time to appear, but we were kept more than entertained. A certain Madame M with beautiful fingers suggested she tell us exactly who, how and what we were by reading our palms and our coffee cups. Forget the coffee cup; she could have been reading a glass of water. It would have made no difference, it was all wrong. But the palm! Down to my nervous gum ache, Madame M saw it all. It's really creepy.
As for the food -- sandwiches and salads -- it is better than anyone would hope from just a café-trottoir up in the hills. The Chicken Panné tasted better than home, with mayonnaise and tomato slices; the Filet with Mushrooms was OK (no trace of mushrooms, but it tasted fine) but not delicious; the Casablanca with Moroccan Sauce was very creative, using green and black olives and peppers on chicken slices, and the Mexican would've probably been just as good if it weren't for the fire it ignites in one's mouth. The irony is, here, that Mazazeek is also opposite the fire brigade. Anything cold in liquid form, quick. Down went the tastiest fresh peach juice I have ever experienced, and my dining companion's equally spectacular cantaloupe juice, much to her dismay.
The worst thing about Mazazeek is the music they play (Hani Shaker type) and its volume; but one feels confident that not many residents will suffer such a hullabaloo for much longer. And so it should be, so that the tiny generation of customers accompanying their families (three to eight years old) should grow accustomed to better standards. Otherwise, Mazazeek is the place on a hot summer night. The above-mentioned order, with a coffee, two salads and two shishas, came to LE52.
Mazazeek, corner of Street 17, Muquattam.
Tel 010 155 0035
