Restaurant review: Grab a crab Gamal Nkrumah stops at the first fish fry and tries to catch a crustacean by its pincers Nestled in the bowls of the plush southern Cairene suburb of Maadi is a humble little restaurant. I pass by it often as it is literally a stone's throw from where I live. The exterior is most uninviting. Think dollops of dark paint -- dirty blues, mannequin pinks and squatterers mauves. Inside, the colours are even gaudier. The interior walls, like some giant playing cards where fish heads and crustacean tails dance, were saffron and azure. Safwat El-Dawwi, the manager of this weird seafood eatery, beckoned and waved. "Please, do come in," he yelled. I can't help it -- the strange allure of the sea creatures. I happily took to the bait. He offered me a wide selection of fish. "I'd go for crabs," I said somewhat peevishly as I did not know if he had fresh ones, and couldn't fathom how he'd prepare the crabs. He chose the crabs for me. He tapped his fingers on the shell of a particularly plump one. "Hard shells, that is what you want to be looking for," he said cockily. When it comes to eating out in Cairo, I am a cynic. But all those clichéd ripostes about there being no good eatery in Cairo are wrong. Lobster's fish fry, one of the most sophisticated in the country, I am assured, is a more successful take-away joint than an actual restaurant. Lobster's is a not so smart, urban abstraction in the midst of leafy Maadi. At any rate, I ran up the flight of stairs and sat facing the window with my back to a curious kettle in a sad corner, an electric mosquito catcher and a television blasting some 1950s Ismail Yassin film. I wondered what the late comedian, in my humble opinion, Egypt's all-time finest actor, would have made of Lobster's. I was lost in thought when, to my utter horror and amazement, it suddenly dawned on me that I was the only client for lunch and I felt a bit like a goldfish swimming in a dreary fish bowl. Four waiters loitered about nervously as I watched seemingly aimless youngsters pass by. The Maadi Hotel and its tiny launderette kiosk were straight ahead of me, and so was a tiny garden, which apparently doubled as a rubbish heap, in a sorry state. I turned my back to it in disgust. "For Heaven's sake we're in spring," I thought to myself. As soon as I had changed position to make myself more comfortable on a hideous- looking orange and pistachio green sofa, the food arrived. The hero of the hour was the grilled tiga mix, a curious concoction of squid, shrimps and shredded filleted fish in a sandwich. And, you have the choice of either grilled or fried seafood in the tiga sandwich. The prawns, cooked to perfection, were a trifle too spicy. I munched on Lobster's fish fry, one of the most sophisticated in the country, I was assured. I savoured the iodine-rich mix -- the fried calamari, the shrimps and all. The seafood soup is quite simply divine, perhaps the best in Cairo. Fish soup is usually the hallmark of a good seafood restaurant. Lobster's seafood soup is rich but not creamy -- flavoursome and packed with a wide range of sea creatures. There is a creamy seafood soup if you so desire. Other mouthwatering specialties include prawns with kishk and prawns with molokhiya. Kishk, an upper Egyptian delicacy that has nowadays found favour throughout the country, is cleverly peppered with prawns. Another house specialty is the seafood hawawshi. It was absolutely scrumptious. Traditionally, hawawshi is mince meat, preferably of the fatty variety, drenched in ghee, traditional clarified butter, tightly wrapped in foil and the whole shoved into the oven to cook. The eel tagine was equally delectable. Bouri, or mullet; moussa or sole; red mullet, bourboni. The fillet of seabass; the herring salad and I recommend the raheb, or monk, salad. The menu includes a wide variety of pasta with seafood and pizza with seafood. But I opted for the curried prawns. I have never tasted more flavoursome prawns, not in all Egypt. The seafood kofta is especially delectable. The fish fingers, too. The grilled crabs were superb -- the promise of the denizens of the deep. Which makes it well worth a plate of fish. Lobster 56, Misr-Helwan Agricultural Highway Opposite Maadi Hotel, Badr Tower, Maadi Tel: 02 358 6047/ 359 2786 /359 2731 Lunch for one person: LE90
