Restaurant review:
Those were the days my friend
Injy El-Kashef has grown older
There was a time, not long ago, when my tolerance was much greater. And by that I do not only mean tolerance for people, for life or for myself, but also for food and drink. Just as I could very well deal with making a mistake, I could tolerate a reasonable amount of alcohol before beginning to wonder how I would get home. I came to the sad realisation that my various bodily functions were losing their flex last week, when neither mind nor body performed with the same efficacy when faced with a challenge.
I was invited to the French Embassy's 14 July reception and found myself only able to swallow two glasses of champagne and eat a few bites of cheese. And I was full! Where had the days gone of gluttonous marathons, feeling one's stomach stretching under the immense pressure of yet another irresistible bite? And where were the days of sobriety despite the tease of a few drinks? Around the Four Seasons Hotel Pool Restaurant, I had another reminder that age does not run counter-clockwise.
Having just left the reception next door, my friend and I headed for a couple of cocktails to celebrate our 15 years of friendship. There was everything on the menu: from snacks to sandwiches, from grilled goodies to main courses, it all sounded delicious -- but we are old and can no longer eat. Being used to drinks containing meagre shots of alcohol (which leave one wondering whether the waiter understood I wanted the bloody, not the virgin, Mary) I thought a few rounds of fancy cocktails would do just fine considering that sudden aging process.
Little did I know that at the Four Seasons they actually understand what a shot is, and that they are fair and square: you will pay dearly for it (our drinks were LE62 a piece), but you will get your honest-to-God shot. Seated on one of the divans by the illuminated pool dotted with candles, under a desert tent-shaped umbrella lit by the sweetest little glass lamp, large cushions scattered about and a low tabliya in the centre, all we did was order two cocktails and all hell broke loose: those cocktail names were apparently synonymous with the combination of every type of alcohol ever invented all in a single glass. Rum, vodka, gin... you name it -- they were all in there and in huge quantities.
The waiter had, by now, brought the apple shisha over and my friend began puffing away like a true Lawrence of Arabia. Foreigners are supposed to cough or something when inhaling as much smoke as this heavy shisha produced, at least to save the face of yours truly crawling all over the place with asphyxia. So rude.
Did the amount of alcohol in our delicious cocktails confuse me as to which pipe exactly smoke was meant to pass through? I know there is the esophagus, and there is the larynx -- but which does what? Never ask someone who's been around the Four Seasons Pool Restaurant for drinks.
LE200 for two cocktails, two shishas and a coffee was the price of feeling old at 30 -- anyone else want to be three again?
* Pool Restaurant, Four Seasons Hotel, opposite the Zoo, Giza
