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RESTURANT REVIEW
Let it all hang out
CrepAway, a hip new eatery on the Giza corniche,
is so hip it has its own Latin motto: “Novus ordo alimentum,”
or “the new order of nourishment.” “Good food, good
mood,” reads another motto on the place mats.
Indeed, from its glossy promotional literature to its shimmering
blue tabletops, the “Egyptian-Lebanese” restaurant (in
reality the latest addition to an 18-year-old Lebanese chain), styles
itself as the essential hangout for Cairo’s young and glamorous
elite. And in fact, based on The Executive Life’s experience,
the food is reasonably good and the atmosphere of the place does
inspire a cheery, optimistic mood.
The menu, while lacking anything that would normally be described
as “Egyptian,” is wide ranging and contains a good selection
of both vegetarian and meat dishes. While one can easily go for
a standard burger-and-fries type of meal, the menu’s star attraction
is the crepes, which come in both sweet and savory varieties.
Attempting to cover a broad range of items, my companion and I choose
an appetizer, a burger, two savory crepes and the soup of the day.
The soup turned out to be a cream of onion, which was warm and filling
(perhaps too much so for the hot weather). Our appetizer, a pair
of small baked potatoes with cheese, was acceptable but not outstandingly
tasty, despite a liberal serving of sour cream on the side.
The Spielburger, consisting of fresh ground beef and a blob of fried
mozzarella cheese, was, in contrast, extremely tasty, although it
did suffer form the common Cairene flaw of too much sauce, which
resulted in problematic drips on my suit.
As for the crepes, the paper-thin pancakes came folded into a tightly
arranged rectangle rather than rolled up in carpet fashion, making
them look a little more sterile at first sight than they actually
were on first bite. My companion’s Crepe Beatrice, with mushrooms,
chicken and cheese, tasted good, although it again suffered from
an excess of sauce. My Crepe Virginie, containing scrambled eggs
and mushrooms, would make a tremendous brunch dish, though by this
point I was far too full to finish it all.
Still, to give the place a fair shake, we pressed on and ordered
the sweet “Lili,” a sugar-glazed crepe topped with strawberries
and fresh whipped cream. This delicious combination is a good start
for a crepe novice. As my companion observed, “the sweet crepe
was delicious, but the savory crepes were a little weird.”
The place was nearly empty at the time of our daytime visit, but
the service was prompt, efficient and friendly. For a moment, at
the end of our meal, we were sure we’d been pegged as reviewers,
as the hostess handed each of us a sheaf of glossy printed matter
that looked like a press kit. Along with a set of tailor-made CrepAway
postcards came an issue of the chain’s own Hangout magazine,
complete with colorful photos of the Beirut clubbing crowd and an
article listing “five reasons women love bad boys.”
The bill for two people (who ate enough for three) came to £E
110. That didn’t seem like a bad deal, but we wouldn’t
have complained in any case. As Hangout columnist Claude Thoumy
observes: “The more we tend to love money, the less we are
able to love anything else, and those who think that with much more
money they can be much more secure fall in the trap of worrying
about losing it.”
With or without its evident efforts to generate hype, CrepAway looks
like a promising addition to Cairo’s dine-out and hang-out
culture. After all, any institution with its own monthly magazine
must be
something special.
Dudley Henderson
CrepAway: Suez Canal Bldg., 4 Ibn Kathir Street, at
Al Nil Street (near the Swissair restaurant), Giza.
Tel: 761-8860/70
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