30 August - 5 September 2001
Issue No.549
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 30 August - 5 September 2001 Issue No.549 |
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Resturant review
The easy way out
Injy El-Kashef gets fresh
When you're at the beach, on the Northern Coast, and you wish to invite a whole family to a meal of fish and seafood, what do you do? You could cook it yourself (insanity); order in and have all the goodies brought to your home, where a perfect mess can be made and all the local flies can have a ball; or take them out somewhere and save yourself the pre- and post-meal misery.
My father's best friend is a wise man -- though I'm sure it was his wife's idea, quite honestly -- and that's why when he decided to take us out for lunch he led us to the Fish Market on the Alex-Matrouh Desert Road. It is located right on the road, where it can only be missed if you make a conscious effort to do so. On the top floor of what resembles a commercial compound in the making, you find a fabulous place where all sorts of sea creatures lie waiting to be picked, endlessly enticing with their fresh sea scent, bright gills and colourful shells.
Let's make this clear in case you were there and wondered at my behaviour: I adore my little monkey son, but, if there is seafood around and a nanny to look after him, I will not think twice: she gets him. Honestly. And so we each took our positions under the hanging fishing nets and attacked. A large selection of amuse-gueules lay before us: fresh crudités, tehina, baba ghannoug, tomiya, beetroot salad, herring salad, potato salad, fattoush and pickles. It was all succulent, except for a red paste I could not identify and from which I preferred to keep my distance because it was a killer. It tasted like punishment for all the nasty things one has ever uttered.
First we got some clams cooked in butter, parsley, garlic and lemon. Pure bliss. The best part was having a conversation with your neighbour and only realising how many you've hoovered off their shells when you look at the pyramid on your plate. Everyone had a pile, so it was not embarrassing. National pride was at stake, after all. Next came a batch of sizzling large grilled shrimps, so bright, so juicy and so delicious that I had to shell some for my son myself in case the nanny succumbed to an attack of gluttony.
Now for the fish: we had several grilled sole with butter and lemon, and these were simply out of this world. Because sole fish contains some fat in its white flesh, the sides of the fish are always nice and crispy while the inside remains milky white and oh-so-tender. The other fish were grey mullets (the famous bouri) cooked sengari-style with the traditional topping of onion, tomato and green pepper, which all released their flavours right into the fish. Delightful.
Although we were full, we could not skip their mastic ice-cream and sat there each enjoying the stretching cold mass that helped digest the sinful amount of food we ate.
It would have been extremely rude to ask how much the bill came to, but my sneaky nanny said she saw it out of the corner of her eye and estimated that it cost LE100 a head. So we'll just say that the prices are within the moderately high range -- just like your blood pressure if you're the one forking out the money.
Fish Market, Alexandria-Marsa Matrouh Desert Road, Km57.
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