The food in Egypt.....

I have for a long time contributed to a food blog called Http://www.whatihadfordinnertonight.com in which people from all over the world write about...well, what they had for dinner that night !

I am going to add the posts I made in Egypt to this blog -

DINNER IN A RESTAURANT 3500 YEARS OLD

I repeat ad nauseam that to me the food I eat in a restaurant is almost secondary to the outlook and ambience of the establishment I am eating at, and tonight I cannot think of a location where this was more the case.

Contrary to the advice of just about every Foreign Ministry in the world, I arrived this afternoon in Luxor, Upper Egypt, and dinner tonight was a splendid affair with an dining chair view of some of the oldest antiquities in the world….the Temple of Luxor, which dates back to 1400 BC.

To get the politics out of the way….Luxor is as quiet as a church mouse with all the tourists (and I mean all…I am probably one of 100 foreigners in Luxor at this precise moment) having been chased out by the events in Cairo, some 400 miles north.  A crying shame as the locals are being deprived of what everyone needs…income!

As I write I can hear on the distance a man yelling into a loudspeaker which I assume is about as close as we are going to get tonight to any civil disturbance…and for all I know he may be telling us about the discounts available at a new supermarket opening in the morning !

I walked round the corner from my hotel, located 100 yards and 2500 years from the temple and found an outdoor emporium which overlooked the piazza infront of the temple where the local kids were collectively playing football! I manoeuvred a table into position A and sat down.

Whatever you order here, it is best to ensure it is extremely well cooked….cremated preferably…and if rice is available it is good to order that. And so it was….I ordered chicken, cremated and presented in sort of bullet-hard goujons and some rice with cardomam. Both were wonderful.

I also was served a salad of an assortment of local produce, which included tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, red pepper and was spiced with cumin. It was also quite delicious.

For the sake of our revered leader I am attaching a photo of the cat which played blind man’s buff with me, until it was close enough to my table, whereupon it met with the sharp end of my foot and was last seen flying through the air in the general direction of Aswan! I am not a great fan of stalking cats!

I sat for about an hour just taking in the sights. Caleches trotted by, all empty but still going some, motorcycles roared past my table, people came and went in the restaurant. I chatted with the owner who bemoaned the events in Cairo, but said they were necessary. But his number were down. Almost 1oo percent down. Located in pole position in the town, I was the only person eating there tonight. SUCH a shame.

I ended the evening with a mug of mint tea – teabag, otherwise there would be a photo. The cost of all this food….£5… or $8

SO...'KNAVE PROBLEMS'...OR....'STUFFED TYPES'....? .THE CHOICES ARE ENDLESS!

Tonight I went out for dinner with some new friends I made here in Luxor. Karren (http://www.luxorlife.com) runs a rental business here and her hubby Simon (as we shall call him) runs a spice business in the local Souk…and yes, he will be getting me some proper Iranian saffron before I return! A really charming couple, she, fully integrated into local life – they took me to their Mosque before dinner to meet the locals – and he rather interested in the events currently unfolding in Cairo.

But hey, this is a dinner blog, right ?

They took me to a local restaurant. I must say the ambience was hellish. Bright, bright lights, a blaring TV, white tiles covering  everything and about as much ambience as the inside of a prison cell….but the food was totally different.

We were presented with the Menu. which came close to being one of those menus you read about on with mangled English which makes you burst out laughing when you shouldn’t really! I decided to forgo to Knave Problems and the Stuffed Types and instead went for chicken.

We got a starter of Tahini and Baba Ganoush (tahini with added Aubergines and h..hh..hot!) which was served with amazing Egyptian bread which was hotfooted from the local bakery-in-the-wall some 100 yeards away from the restaurant. The bread was truly delicious..warm, fresh and doughy and slightly singed round the edges.

Mains came, and in addition to the chicken, came a pot of Okra..all bubbling away nicely, and another pot of Mixed Vegetables, but largely tomato based but very good nevertheless. I added a small dash of sugar to it – it was a bit acrid as tomatoes often are when cooked – which the waiter found interesting. Maybe I have started a new culinary revolution here to add to the one going on in Cairo !

The chicken was historic. I mean absolutely excellent. Fresh, juicy and cooked to a T! Almost blackened on the ouside – I did ask for that, but so wonderful inside. It was served with lemon wedges and a vast amount of (now I am a little unsure of this) but I think it was Coriander, though it didn’t taste of much ! Maybe it was some sort of parsley.

Drinks was Coca Cola – in a glass bottle – yay !, and a glass of Citroen Pressay (sic) which was brilliant. A really wonderful meal.

After dinner (for which I paid – £15/$20 for the 3 of us!) we repaired to the local Coffee Shop/Shisha pipe smoking house. I had a mint tea which came with fresh mint. I am afraid I disgraced myself as I did not realise the tea was already flavoured with mint and the addition of a few mint leaves, brought tot the table is a sort of vase, was more a social thing than something which added to the mint experience….and I added a veritable forest of mint, much to the amusement of the assembled throng ! Oh well…

Mubarak made his much vaunted speech whilst I was there. A pretty dire speech…he made the impression of being extremely tired…in which, despite much anticipation, he announced he was not resigning (not that there was ever much evidence he really intended to, apart from some clown from the CIA who as usual got it pretty mixed up!) and that we should all go and calm down, have another coffee and let him get on with it.

The reaction in Cairo was pretty swift and furious – students tend to be an excitable lot, long on idealism, a bit short of substance – but in the coffee shops in Luxor there was a resigned shrug of the shoulders, another pot of tea ordered and the general belief that a transition period is not a bad thing, Mubarak has looked after Egypt pretty well for 30 years, kept the peace with Israel and so a few more months will avoid a power vacuum and let him leave office without losing face (an important tenet of the Arab psyche).

Oooh, I mustn’t go on…sorry !

REVOLUTION CHICKEN

It was inevitable, wasn’t it!

Hos and Pete in the same country at the same time. Well, it just wasn’t going to work….and today Hos saw the writing on the wall, vacated the Presidential Palace, buggered off to Sharm to join  the tourists from Manchester and beyond for a some well earned lamb koftas, a few gallons of beer and a paddle around in the Red sea.

I went out into the streets of Luxor and whilst pretty muted – as it has been here through all the past days – there were one group of people celebrating. As you can see from the photo, I joined in!

After some thought and as I wanted to type up the events of the day and play with my photos in peace, I decided I would return to my hotel and have dinner there.

The Winter Palace Hotel in Luxor is a historical ex summer palace, which served as the Winter residence of King Farouk of Egypt. It is beautiful, very, very retro, which I like, though the thing it is most famous for are it’s gardens which are imply stunning.

I have been upgraded to stay here during my time here as the hotel I was staying in, which shares the same grounds, but is somewhat…eh cheaper (the room I am staying in is $900 a night…I am paying $100!) was closed due to lack of interest. I cannot believe my luck. Actually as I type this, eating a breakfast in the sun overlooking the Nile, there a small demonstration by the good people of Luxor unfolding below my window…all rather exciting!

But back to dinner….I was shown to my table in the Restaurant which was completely deserted and has not seen a single customer for about a week! I felt like a King, sitting in splendid isolation with only a lap top for company.

There was a sensible choice on the menu, a few meat dished a few fish. I really didn’t fancy anything substantial so ordered a plate of chicken fricassee with a curry and apple sauce (yes, I thought that rather interesting too!) which I have to say was excellent. Consider the kitchens are about a mile away it arrived at my table piping hot, and served on a wonderful crested dinner plate and I used real silver cutlery, dating form many years ago, to eat it.

I have never quite understood the meaning of something fricasseed, but this was more like a sort of curried chicken stew. Anyway, it was most enjoyable. I had a bottle of Stella beer with it.

No pudding but a nice coffee in the library afterwards. I could easily get used to this lifestyle…but fear I will rarely be given the opportunity again !

NEW OM HASHEM RESTAURANT, LUXOR

I returned this evening to the restaurant with the funny menu as I had really enjoyed the meal there the other day. This time I sat outside in order to watch the comings and goings of the Souk where it is located.

The first thing that surprised me was the  range of equipment in the kitchen area, which is largely outside. Stainless steel everywhere, including a proper Pizza oven, a charcoal barbecue pit, proper stainless steel work surfaces and a huge marble slab for making pizza dough and filo pastry for sweets.

The second thing was how fresh everything was. One worries about the provenance of some food here, but this was as fresh as could be. The chicken and other meats kept as it should in a fridge, the vegetables in a chiller.

I had a starter of Tahini – home made of course – which was great. They wandered down to the local bakery to get the bread, which here in Egypt is amazing. They then bought another starter of a very hot mixture of roasted aubergine and tomato which was even more amazing.

The main course was the barbecued chicken again. How they cook it so well yet manage to keep it so moist and succulent is beyond me. They covered it in a pile of parseley and put some fresh lemon on the side. It was absolutely historic, and I scoffed the lot!

It came with a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and aubergine, cut up into small squares and served with just a smattering of cumin over the top! The dressing was the juice from the ingredients.

They gave me some rice. That could have been improved a little as they serve it mixed with noodles. I dont know why.

To drink I had numerous glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice. I would gladly forgo wine in favour of that !

Pudding was a hilarious affair. I watched as the young man making the pizzas, who twirls vast sheets of dough round in the air to achieve the thinness he wants made up what look like a sweet pizza, but made with a sort of filo pastry. He folded his huge sheet of pastry and placed it in a baking tray which he put in the over. When it came out he spread sweetened butter over the top and then dunked the whole thinkg in….milk ! Eeeew, as they say.

 asked him very sweetly if he would make another a la facon de Peter….he was intrigued. One the pastry came out of the oven, I asked him to pour a little honey over the top, put a few mint leaves here and there, and then ‘glaze’ it with sugar. We then poured some fresh lemon over the top…! My god it was delicious. A sort of cross between Baklava and pancakes. I think we may have started something!

They wrapped the sweet up and I took it with me to the coffee shop in the Souk where I was to meet my friends Karren and Simon for a mint tea and a shisha pipe. I opened up the package and laid it on the table. I tell you, it took 20 seconds for it to disappear !

PRETTY RUBBISH FOOD.....AMAZING VIEW

The photo is the view I had for dinner tonight. I won’t bore you with the food as frankly it weren’t very good ! Well, it wasn’t bad…well, it was cos I said so up there…but I also couldn’t get my camera to incorporate the food and a decent photo of what I was looking at at the same time, and since what I was looking on was better than what was on my….oh, you get the gist !

I was tired this evening from doing nothing for most of today and so played with the idea of eating in the hotel, but couldn’t bear the idea of eating inside. So I went across the road to the El Kababgy restaurant…..groan!

The table overlooked the Nile, the harbour where all the Felluccas tie up and then over to the West Bank of the Nile towards the Valley of the Kings/Queens/Nobles/Artisans/Peasants/Poorpeople etc !

They don’t do things by halves here, and have lit up most of the hills that form the backdrop to the West Bank. I have never actually seen an entire mountain lit up, and I can tell you it takes your breath away. I am going over there tomorrow night to a local restaurant for a meal, and then will photograph all the monuments which are apparently lit up as well. Should be amazing.

I had dinner with my 2 new Best Friends this evening. Captain Cat – captain of HMFellucca “Crocodile Dundee” and his first mate. An absolutely charming couple of gents.

Dinner for me consisted of a truly historic mixed salad – grated cabbage, red cabbage, carrots, celery…it was fabulous.

It came with the main course which was a so called Tagine of Vegetables, and which was absolute rubbish. Quite pathetic…and I smacked myself hard for knowing full well it was going to be rubbish and ordering it nevertheless. Never eat a Tagine in North Africa if it has been cooked east of Algiers.

A Sakkara beer – much better than the Stella as Suemygranny will no doubt confirm – was tonight’s tipple.

They tried to give me a cappuccino afterwards, but needn’t have bothered.

But go back to the view….because the food really wasn’t up to much!

FANCY WANCY....DINNER AT THE WINTER PALACE HOTEL, LUXOR

My energy levels are not what they used to be, and on returning from a full day on the West Bank clambering up and down hills and into tombs and things I had intended to go back to Om Thingummibob (can’t be bothered to look back!) for another dose of their chicken and rice, but once I got into the hotel at about 9 o’clock I was too tired to go and out and so went to have a butchers (butcher’s hook – take a look – cockney rhyming slang) at what was on offer at La Corniche restaurant here at the Hotel.

The Winter Palace has 2 restaurants. The Corniche, which is run of the mill fancy, and the 1885 restaurant which is super-fancy, where you aren’t allowed in unless you come from south of Watford Gap and where you are required to wear a shirt and tie…preferably with some trousers and shoes attached for good measure.

The 1886 (I don’t know, and cant be bothered to look it up!) is closed due to lack of anyone staying at the hotel (apart from me!) but they resolutely keep the Corniche restaurant open, with each table made up and waiters in full regalia waiting forlornly in the hope of even one customer!

Well, tonight they got one. I gave my dusty shoes to be cleaned by the shoeshine boy, went up stairs and put a new pair of trousers, a clean shirt..my fancy new aquamarine one too from Honolulu..eh, a pair of pink socks to add to the spectacle and came back down to the restaurant to eat dinner. Oops…forgot to pick up the shoes, so returned sotodo!

I had the choice of any table I wanted – indeed could have eaten each mouthful of soup at a different table had I wanted to – so took the one slap bang in the middle. I set up my computer to write and was brought the Me and U!

 chose chicken soup, not expecting much, and then chose a Fish Tagine.

I was brought the fish soup by two waiters – one brought the soup, the other the bread. I picked up the silver soup spoon and started. It was delicious. Creamy and really tasting of chicken. Wonderful.

Next came the Tagine. Well, I stick resolutely by my comment that a Tagine should not be eaten East of Algiers, as this was no Tagine – a Tagine in my book has lots of Ras Al Hanout in it, or other spices in other countries and should come served in a plate with a funny looking hat on it – but whatever it might be termed it was damned good ! Really excellent. It was served with roasted peppers and onions, had a thick tomato sauce and came with lots of pieces of Nile Perch.

I sat in splendid isolation in the middle of this wonderful restaurant, with 2 waiters hovering over me when they thought I needed something. I accidentally on purpose dropped my napkin to see what would happen….there was almost an accident in the  frantic scramble by the 2 waiters to bring me a new one…always a good test of a restaurant, and listened to Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 2 over the loudspeakers.

Unfortunately all good things come to an end eventually and I finished the fish thing! I really couldn’t manage a pudding so I sort of fiddled about for a few minutes and eventually asked them to bring the bill over. It was perfectly reasonable, indeed I worked out it was only 30 more Egyptian Pounds than the meal I had at Om Thingamibob the other day.

Well, I leave here tomorrow to return to normal life. This really has been one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life seeing one of the great tourist centres of the world totally deserted. It has been like having a filmset of my own to play with..indeed numerous filmsets…the town, the river, the Valleys, the Hotel…I have been able to live a life of fantasy for a whole week and not even worry about the cost.

LAST DINNER IN LUXOR

I was going to go out and cook up a storm in Om Whass…bugger…can’t away with it twice…lets go take a look…the New Om Hashem restaurant tonight, on account of wanting ti improve on the chicken kebabs I had the other night, and want to try out the Saffron I bought in the market the other day, but I was absolutely famished when I returned from my day out at about 5 this evening and so ordered a club sandwich and frankly am not that hungry now. I also want to savour my last evening in this amazing hotel, ‘ere I leave tomorrow.

Let me first tell you about the Saffron. I went to see my mates Karren and Simon this evening (new mates who I met on the plane out) – she is English and very nice and he is Egyptian and also very nice. He owns….. in the true Egyptian way I just dont know ……his brother’s spice emporium in the souk. I expressed an interest in buying some saffron. Now last time I was here I was frankly ripped off. This time I thought I would be a little sassier. Ask a friend seemed a reasonable thing.

I want E£150 pounds worth of Saffron Simon – were my exact words ! Well, we huffed and puffed and haggled and looked and argued and changed the subject, returned to the subject and… oh god, it went on and on. In the end – I think I ended up with some Spanish Saffron.  OK, I was happy…I think ! As one last gasp, I said to Simon for the umpteenth time…Simon are you sure this is the genuine stuff...? IS there anything better. I think by this time was getting the message that I was pretty serious about my saffron.

Well, he took the packet off me again and handed me numerous small jars of saffron off another shelf. OK Peter this is better…the best there is. Now pay me, and dont let anyone see what I gave you!

Anyway, cut long story short, I returned and showed it to the hotel chef….he went into apoplexy saying (and showing me) the hotel stock of saffron which looked pretty amoebic. It is red, bright red, has a great smell, broadens out into a sort of stamen at one end. I cant wait to get it back and give it a try in a risotto with lemon and saffron.

BUT…is it the real stuff…is it any good…have I been ripped off again…it certainly looks great! Watch this space…  :-)

Dinner…yeah. A club sandwich and a glass or orange juice  sitting on the terrace overlooking the gardens. Quite enough.

And the smoke you see…? No, not another revolution starting…but the stuff they spray the gardens with to stop mosquitoes. Smells and acts like tear gas.