Restaurant review:
Cairo when it sizzles
Injy El-Kashef skips all but the lipstick
It has been a while since I have had dinner in a truly elegant restaurant. With the summer heat seriously affecting my public image, as my choice of clothing is strictly limited to cotton and linen, I find myself simply unable to dress up for a fancy place. And forget make-up. Those Nefertiti eyes just have to do without eye-liner when it runs the risk of melting all the way down to my nostrils.
In this spirit I dressed to get myself to Le Château, one of four equally delicious and welcoming Swiss restaurants, yet by far the least casual. It is the kind of restaurant where one takes a significant other for a romantic tête-à-tête, or invites one's in-laws for a formal dinner, or dines in style before getting oneself to an Opera House performance. Yet I am afraid the heat got between myself and my mink coat. I could not face the pearls either. So off I went to Le Château, simple yet classy in my cotton garments.
No sooner had my friend and I positioned ourselves where the Nile was in full view than the ma”tre d' greeted us ever so charmingly, menus in hand, a full smile lighting his face and a twinkle in his eye. He seemed fluent in any language we attempted in his presence, proffering his kind advice with a professionalism befitting the establishment.
We began with a shared marine appetiser consisting of calamari salad, smoked salmon, broiled shrimps with Tartar sauce and smoked sea bass on a bed of lettuce. The sea bass was by far the most attractive of the four, with a subtle smokey flavour that lingered on the palate long after the bites had been swallowed. We buttered the soft and crispy toast, gently placed the seafood items on the bread, and crunched into it as gracefully as we could -- this is no place to behave like pigs, however enjoyable piggy behaviour may be.
Next, the maitre d' uncovered our main courses from under polished, bell-shaped, silver domes, revealing the dishes we had spent so much time selecting from the long, appetising menu. My friend's salmon fillet in lemon sauce was rather huge and thick, providing mouthful after mouthful of the tender fish, bathed in a rich but mild sauce. She couldn't finish her plate and, as per usual, asked for the bathroom half-way through the meal -- an idiosyncratic habit she has had since our school days. I, on the other hand, finished every last bite of my beef fillet with shrimp and lobster sauce. You just don't get lobster sauce anywhere in Cairo, nor do you get your accompanying sautéed vegetables buttery yet crisp and fresh.
From the moment when the ma”tre d' gave me his word of honour that my selected profiteroles would arrive with a whole tub of hot chocolate sauce until I finished my dessert, I don't remember anything. My mind simply blacked out from the amount of absolutely scrumptious chocolate sauce I was almost spooning right off the serving tub -- it felt as though the sauce travelled upward to my brain, rather than downward to my stomach. The LE221 bill brought me back to the land of the living, however, but it was with much difficulty that my friend managed to drag me out of there before I asked for another choc helping.
Le Château, above Le Chalet, Al-Nil St, Al-Nasr Bldg, Giza Corniche
Tel 337 1005
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 26 June - 2 July 2003 (Issue No. 644)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/644/li4.htm