I just thought that I'd make you all jealous.
The Salahadeen Restaurant has re-opened, and we dined there tonight! It was, of course, absolutely lovely as ever, and as we fully expected. Slight change in that there are now four rotating menus, all similar in the amount of grub served, and in the same style, just different dishes. There have been a few changes to the dining room as well; some very nice meshrabiya screenwork has been added and the effect is nicely in keeping with the rest of the decor.
As usual, I took a few dodgy pictures of the food!
The two large bowls of soup are serve yourself, and come with Egyptian flat bread, (as does the whole meal) tonight it was a vegetable soup which had a distinctive (but quite subtle) Egyptian tang to it, I managed two of the smaller bowls full before moving onto the 'Larks Tongue' soup, which was also delicious! (For the animal lovers among you: it's not the actual tongues of birds, it's just bits of pasta which look like they could be lark's tongues.) I've always enjoyed this soup, wherever I've had it, and you know what I think of pasta ordinarily!
Being a slightly greedy fellow, I kept forgetting to take the picture before we'd started on the food! So that central dish in the picture (which was full of fried aubergine) is a bit misrepresented, sorry. That's my platter in the foreground, and you can see the roasted sweet potato on the left, which comes as extra to the dishes on the central tray. As this banquet is meant to be an introduction to Egyptian cuisine; not everything on offer might be to everyone's taste, I don't like the molokheya, or the stuffed vine leaves for example, but I just loved most of it! There were eleven dishes to choose from. It's nice to know that the food is real Egyptian fare, and that the kitchen hygiene is impeccable, so that you're safe from any tummy troubles.
The sweet consisted of strawberry halves, a scoop of ice cream and a slice of basboosa. Strawberries (ferrowla) are in season here at the moment, and they're lovely! We make the most of them while we can; strawberry tarts, strawberry crumble, strawberries and Coronation milk (really Carnation), strawberry trifle. The list goes on!
Basboosa is typical of Egyptian cakes, sticky and sweet. I've never had it with ice cream before, more usually with a cup of tea, but the two go very well together!
I forgot (again) to take a picture of the dining room while we were in there, mind you, the other diners might not have been too keen. So I got this quickie through the open doorway just before we left, after having a drink and chat in the bar. The setting is as magical as it always has been, there's nowhere else like it in Luxor!
At 100LE per person, I think it is very good value for money for a splendid meal in a setting which makes the occasion a true Egyptian experience.
I might just get around to doing similar reviews on some of my other favourite eateries soon,watch this space!
