So we have been living in Maadi, Egypt for just a month now and are starting to get the hang of our local neighborhood. So for me it's all about the food. What's available, where to buy it and just as importantly where to eat it. When moving to a new place there is always so much to do as everything is all so new. Finding good places to go out to eat can sometimes be a huge challenge especially when you are the foreigner in a new country. Research is usually the first step that I take when eating in a new place and usually that can be a huge help in determining the hot spots to eat and such. In the States and Europe that has always worked well for me, but I find myself in a place that isn't so much driven by technology and often times can be explored with ease virtually online. When searching for restaurants in Cairo, specifically Maadi a quick Google search isn't going to bombard you with suggestions. Most of the info out there is by people much like yourself, who have done the searching the old fashion way and word of mouth is your safest bet.
So I seem to have gone off on a tangent, even if it is fairly relative to what I'm really going to write about and that is our very first Sushi experience in Egypt. Yesterday on
Armed Forces Day (a public holiday here) where were out looking for lunch and decided to try a place that we have passed by several times in our time here and visits before. That place would be
Mori Sushi. Yes that's right, we do have sushi out here in the desert and I'll be completely honest in saying that there was a wee bit of apprehension in the thought of eating raw fish here. We had been warned by various sources about eating out in Egypt and have had a few experiences of the not so fun kind ourselves. But when it comes to food you just have to soldier on. So we went in to this fairly stylishly designed Sushi Bar & Grill without high expectations and empty stomachs. The menu is fairly impressive with all this sushi. They had Maki, Temaki (Handrolls), Nigiri, lettuce wrapped rolls, fish wrapped rolls, Nigiri and just about any variations you could think of. There is also an underlined them of Brazilian influence (between seeing San Paolo next to Cairo on the sign and some brief internet research I came to this conclusion). We kept it simple as our stomach were in the driving seat and we really didn't feel like any decisions. So we went for a one of the Sushi Platters, some Veggie Tempura and I had some Miso Soup. The soup was pretty good, but way to big. They had it in a bowl that was more suited for Ramen or Udon Soup then what you expect to get Miso in. It could have perhaps used a bit more Miso in it but it had a nice flavor. They might have added something else in it that you wouldn't expect, but I could't quite place it. Possible it was the use of Red Miso instead of the traditional Shiro (or White) Miso or maybe just something from the Brazilian influence).
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Next came our platter totaling 32 pieces that ranged from Nigiri to both small and large Maki. Salmon and Tuna where the fishes of note with a appearance of cooked Shrimp, Smoked Salmon and a unidentified Whitefish. Presentation was nice and the quality of fish wasn't the best I've had but it also wasn't the worst that I have by a long shot, so no complaints. Their rice was cooked well and not over seasoned (a fatal flaw for many places) and the rolls has just the right amount of it. I didn't have high expectations so I wasn't disappointed, mission accomplished. The tempura did take pretty long to come out. I'm not sure if the fryer wasn't up to the temp (that was my guess for it's tartiness) or what and it seemed like they didn't use rice flour, but the pieces where crisp and light.
So all in all it was a pretty good experience and I would come back when I get a hankering for the raw stuff. If you want to check it out it, Mori Sushi is located at 76 Road 9 in Maadi, Cairo. The next time I talk about Sushi it will be after tasting it in none other then the Sushi-Mecca of Tokyo, Japan in just over a month. Let's just say that expectations will be on a whole new level for that one.
Man I think I just started drooling, thinking about it.
