First Impressions, Studio Misr, and Sequoia

Ok, I was all set to post last night, but when I went to upload the pictures I discovered that it took about 5 minutes for each one and I had quite a few, so this post is coming a day late.  Here is a picture I took from the window of the plane as we were approaching Cairo:

  

My first impressions of Cairo are actually kind of misleading I think, because we arrived on the first day of Eid, the big celebration at the end of Ramadan. I thought this meant that everything would be much crazier here, but in fact it is the opposite. A lot of people go out of town or stay in to celebrate with family, so the streets were actually pretty empty and the noise was minimal. Tonight is the last night of Eid and already I can feel the pace of life picking up. It now takes five minutes to cross the street instead of two. I anticipate that tomorrow that average will go up to ten or so. The traffic outside the hotel window has definitely increased a few decibels and almost all the stores had opened back up today. However, the holiday has not caused any major changes in the schedule and my experience here has certainly not suffered because of it.

On our first night here we had a welcome dinner at a restaurant called Studio Misr. It was on a boat. On the Nile. So cool.

This was the view from my seat at the dinner table. I mean, seriously:

The Nile

The food was excellent. When we arrived, this was waiting for us on the table:

This bread is called Aish, which translates to "life."

Mouthwatering, right? Our waitress soon came over to offer us our choice of chicken, tomato or lentil soup. This was the only thing we ordered all night, the rest of the meal had been pre-ordered by our program director. It being my first night in Egypt, I felt it was only appropriate to order the lentil. I was not disappointed. The texture was perfect, the flavor intense, and the temperature, to quote Goldilocks, was juuussst right. It was comforting and delicious.

It was a small bowl of soup, which was good, because this was the next thing placed in front of me:

Combo tray of hummus, tahina, babaghanouj, taboula, spicy sausage and a salad. The middle was Samboussek, one filled with meat, one with cheese, and one with spinach and what I think was a kobeiba. 

The yellow pool of liquid in the middle of the three dips is olive oil. This is the traditional way to serve these kinds of food, often with paprika or cayenne pepper, like in the right-most dish. It was all incredible and was devoured almost instantly. Good thing too, because the next thing to arrive on the table needed some serious space:

Delivered to the table on small golden grills, coals still burning, was the most delicious assortment of meats I have ever seen. Beef, chicken, and lamb all prepared multiple ways, with grilled tomatoes and green peppers, and stuffed flat bread. It was steaming hot, enticingly fragrant, and there was more than enough to go around:

So much food!

It was an incredible dinner and a great introduction to Cairo cuisine. Additionally, I was in no shape to peruse and properly assess a menu after the trials and tribulations of travel and was extremely grateful to have excellent food simply placed in front of me.

Since that first meal I have had several more wonderful culinary encounters, but none that I was able to properly document in picture form. My second night I had a chicken shwarma sandwich from a small local vendor (yes, I feel fine!) and tonight my friend who is in Cairo took me and some other people in the program to what he called "the nicest restaurant in Cairo," a place called Sequoia. Apparently it is frequented by Amr Daib, the superstar and heartthrob of Arab music and a national icon, whose picture can be seen all over the city. If you ever happen to be in Cairo and are wondering, he is the stud slathered in oil and looking seductively into the camera. You can't miss him.

The food was excellent and they had an incredible array of options (sushi, anyone?). The atmosphere was very upscale and luxurious and the shisha following the meal was so smooth! They also had any and every flavor you can imagine (Red Bull flavored shisha, anyone? I was not tempted.). But by far the highlight of the meal for me was the dessert. I ordered a sticky date and toffee pudding. The actual dish did not taste like dates or toffee, nor was it anything resembling a pudding, but it was FANTASTIC. Served with a scoop of simple vanilla ice cream, it was a kind of cake-like bread, served in a pool of caramel sauce. The flavor was indescribable and the texture, oh! So moist and melt-in-your-mouth, it was worthy of the pharaohs.

Speaking of which, tomorrow we visit Giza and Sakkara, so soon enough I will post the quintessential tourist pictures in front of the pyramids, the sphinx, and most likely on a camel. Cliche? Yes. But look, sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.