2 - 8 May 2002
Issue No.584
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 2 - 8 May 2002 Issue No.584 |
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Ways of the world
Injy El-Kashef deals with reality
I had been to Sangria a few months ago on a windy night that heralded a radical change in my life. And although I was quite angrily engaged in a tense argument (one of those storms that precede intense sunlight) I had still managed to notice Bam-Bu, the dine and dance venue on the bottom floor.
The first detail that struck me upon my visit were the fancy cars parked outside along the Corniche. All this wealth, I thought, is really quite refreshing. Once I stepped in, however, I realised that my friends and I were probably the oldest customers there, which raised a disturbing question: are those fancy cars actually owned by 18 year-olds? The more I walked around the place, the more disturbing facts I found: not only are these youths the owners of fancy cars but some were also sipping champagne around the dance floor, or pouring drinks from their Chivas Regal bottle on the table. What exactly is going on here? Shouldn't these children be staying in finishing their homework? Or, at most, shouldn't they be content with a few beers and their father's old car at this age? Well anyway...it takes all kinds to make a world unfortunately.
While I was sipping my beer and mildly following the music, I realised that I distinctly did not like Bam-bu. It was hard to dance, hard to talk, hard to see, hard to sit, hard to walk, and I also had to face the symptoms of a confused society. So I decided to focus on food.
The barman used his lighter to allow me a quick glance at the food I was about to attack. I had ordered a platter of Sashimi with six different types of fish as a starter and a pizza. They came together but I completely ignored the pizza, running the risk of eating it cold, but perfectly incapable of resisting the Sashimi which it looked really wonderful.
Chopsticks dexterously in hand I mixed that green, deliciously powerful ginger paste in the little soy sauce dish. I picked up a little bit of octopus first, dipped it (did not drop it midway) and apprehensively brought it to my mouth -- we all know what the medical consequences of bad Sashimi are on the human body. Lo and behold, it was no less than perfect. There were about three pieces of the six different types of fish and I enjoyed every last one of them. Fresh, tasty, pure, the Sashimi and the little bits of seaweed tasted better than that on offer at several Japanese restaurants I have tried in Cairo. It was finished all too quickly and gave way to a moderately-sized Napolitan pizza that I relished with similar gusto. The dough was just the right thickness with a generous amount of cheese, not too many anchovies or black olives making for a reasonable saltiness, fresh tomato paste at the base and some aromatic oregano sprinkled over the lot.
As I paid my LE125 bill for the food and two Sakkara Golds I concluded that the food was just faultless -- though one might find the atmosphere hard to stomach.
Bam-Bu, Nile Corniche, Maspero, opposite the Conrad Hotel
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