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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Sep. - 4 Oct. 2000 Issue No. 501 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Sep. - 4 Oct. 2000 Issue No. 501
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Little green men
By Injy El-KashefWhat is Le Palais, exactly? Is it a) a spaceship? b) a cafe? c) an airport? d) a bizarre piece of architecture? e) a grocery store? It is all of the above! We had noticed Le Palais a few months ago and were not entirely sure if we should venture too close. The external design is extremely complicated, drawing on a multitude of not-so-compatible architectural styles in highly elaborate form and incorporating such huge details that they cease to be so by their sheer magnitude. The whole is emphasised by the nauseatingly popular "lighting hose" that now adorns every tree and every shop of this city.
Seen from outside, Le Palais may seem like an obscenely expensive textile shop or a Hollywood-style hairdresser. But it ain't. It's just a grocery store-cum-café. You walk in on the marble floors and you almost feel as if you've walked into an airport's free zone. Entirely occupying all 180 degrees of your field of vision is a display counter housing a large variety of cheeses and cold cuts, pickles, canned fish and pastries as well as a stand with hair pins, toys, fake jewellery, and small gifts. What is going on here?
If you glance to the right, you find a stairway above which are inscribed the words Café de la Paix. This is where the sci-fi adventure begins. All you need is a little bit of imagination and you instantly realise that this is no grocery store; this is a spaceship.
You see, upstairs is where negotiations between earthlings and other species take place concerning the future of the galaxy. No, I'm not mad, but I would be genuinely dull if the thought hadn't crossed my mind considering the interior decor of the upstairs café. There is nothing overtly hi-tech or sci-fi about it, but the furnishing is generally inclined toward the post-modern, the place bathes in an icy silence, the whole facade is a glass vista opening onto the world and the atmosphere a little other-worldly. The really odd thing is that the menu is terribly modest for such a elaborate setting. A dozen choices in the sandwich zone, a half-dozen in the pasta zone, a few drinks and cocktails, three dessert options, et voilà. They also provide breakfast meals (a selection of cheeses) and light dinner (cheeses and cold cuts).
We expected to find capsules on the plate, but no; full-fledged sandwiches arrived (so they do eat real food in space), along with a dry plate of negresco. The chicken in the negresco tasted of coconut somehow and instantly brought back memories from Plasticland that I shudder to remember. The sandwiches were quite good with their warm, toasted bread, their mayonnaise on roast beef and turkey, and their crispy lettuce. The shrimp sandwich, however, was unexpected, to put it mildly: the tiniest excuse for a shrimp in tahina with diced tomatoes and cucumbers and an overpowering taste of cumin. Stick to the cold cuts.
The pastries were good. The mille feuilles, at least, was fresh (even at 10.30pm) with loads of icing sugar and layered with a light, fluffy cream, instead of the thick cream used for clogging holes in the wall you sometimes get.
Our meal (only available until 12.15am) came to LE40.
Le Palais, 100 Ammar Ibn Yasser St, Heliopolis. Tel: 242 6407
