Perspectives change..

2 facts:

1. It is not possible to (legally) buy non-egyptian alcohol by the bottle in egypt except at duty free upon entry.

I have only seen one non-egyptian produced beer here, ever. And that was Paulaner Weizen only available during Oktoberfest at the Marriott. [This isn’t even a very good example of Weizens, btw]

One cannot purchase foreign wine anywhere. The “best” one can get is wine made from grapes imported from South Africa or Lebanon.

2. Pork products are even harder to come by than alcohol. Though we have finally located a reliable source for “american” bacon. His canadian bacon is almost inedible due to the salt content.

Anyway, we have read about the “Italian Club”. Supposedly great pizza. [There are lots of clubs here. British club, Greek Club, etc. They cater to ex-pats of the respective countries. They typically charge a LE5 cover for non-members. That is just shy of US$1. Haven’t found an “American club” yet. And I am not sure if I would join if I found one.].

So we go for dinner this evening.

THEY HAVE IMPORTED ITALIAN WINE. They were out of the reds, but we had a very nice dry Italian white. They poured a splash into my glass to taste. I raised it to my nose and inhaled it. My eyes rolled back into my head and a look of “I have died and gone to heaven” crossed my face.

I don’t think I can describe how much this means to have found this. While Egyptian beer is merely boring and tasteless, Egyptian wine is downright offensive.

But it gets better.

They had prosciutto. And real salami. And mortadella.
Now, it ain’t Salumi’s but it brough a tear to my eye.

I think this places needs to go into regular rotation in the restaurant list.

Dinner for 2, with an OUTRAGEOUSLY priced bottle of wine: 200LE. About US$35.

It gives one reason to soldier on…