Restaurant review: 'Tis the season Perched on high, Injy El-Kashef breaks a few baubles It was one of the large Hungarian collection of delicately hand-crafted Christmas ornaments my father had preserved for a good 20 years -- and it was Yassine's favourite. For several years now it had been hung and placed back in its box with the utmost care, but the snowman's existence had now come to an end in a fatal accident as, slipping from my hand while I stood on a wooden chair, it went shattering into tiny glass pieces beneath the Christmas tree. Oops. "Well at least I'm doing something!" was my reply to his darting eyes. "Oh yeah? I am helping you, and didn't break anything," he retorted, dead serious with a string of red bells around his neck. I felt terrible about the snowman. "I am sorry. Though trailing tinsel garlands around the flat is no help, nor is watching baubles float in the bathroom sink, I'll have you know." We had dinner at Moemen's that night, yet I made it clear it was not compensation, rather celebration of our gorgeous red-and-gold themed tree. One could not even state that Moemen is the latest addition to the collection of franchises finding their way up to Muqattam at incredible speed of late; for, as we speak, more could be in the process of opening. The transformation is simply amazing. With Cairo reaching saturation point long ago, the Muqattam hills are now the next destination of construction expansion. The Uptown Cairo project piloted by Emar further raised the value of the land, along with the new financial centre in progress at the foot of the hill opposite the Citadel, turning the entire area into a veritable development magnet. If you have children, you will discover that as far as kids' meals go, Moemen beats them all: the little food box is actually a large, painstakingly executed boat with the goodies inside, and the gift toy more educational fun than other fast food counterparts. Attention to detail is discernible in every step; the variety of options on the seafood section alone will prove it. With temperatures hitting unpleasant lows recently, fishy choices topped the list once more. Nearing his seventh year, Yassine's appetite now needed more than just a kiddie meal, and so he opted for a small fried shrimp sandwich on the side as he did not wish to foresake the play dough to be had with the cardboard boat. Saving the best for last, he quickly hoovered his small burger then attacked his favourite food in the whole world. I did not have to ask whether he liked what he ate, what I had to do was make him devour it a little slower. Knowing there would be a review at the end of our meal, he guessed the protocol -- and laughingly tried to avert it: "You can just write that it tastes like good fried shrimp." I attempted to explain that regardless of the review, sharing food makes it taste better. "Yes, but I don't need it to taste any better." The point went across when, as a result, I flatly refused to share both my seafood rice and my seafood salad. The rice was brown and beautiful, with bay leaves and cardamom adding a home-cooked feeling to the lot and many pieces of processed crab and fried shrimp dotting the small-sized serving generously. This is the thing about Moemen: they seem to understand that the better you treat the customer the more profit you make -- an obvious equation if ever there was one, and yet strangely ignored by many an establishment. They don't try to swindle you, and for that they have my respect. As for the seafood salad, it was more elaborate than one would expect of a fast food venture. Fusili pasta, calamari slivers, crab chunks, grilled shrimp and yellow capsicum slices all mixed up with a reasonable amount of mayonnaise and flaked tuna. Add to that the subtle taste of olive oil with a barely noted hint of cumin and you have the Moemen salad before you. This is good stuff, without any onion to make the errands one needs to run afterwards unfeasible. Their options for dessert consist of nougat with nuts, cheesecake, Umm Ali and -- our choice -- chocolate fudge-filled biscuits covered in rice crisps. Seeing as our kitchen had just invented a new chocolate cake, we were not terribly impressed, but that was our fault. Moemen did its job satisfactorily, and is now on our list of domestic SOS numbers should the need arise. Back home, a play dough snowman now sits by the candles under the tree, in memoriam. Moemen Road 9 Muqattam 16600
