Restaurant review: Fishy business There is nothing more unpalatable than exorbitantly priced limp raw fish, complains Gamal Nkrumah Raw fish? The scales fall off my eyes. Last night I decided to conduct an experiment in sushi sampling. Let us hail a random sushi restaurant. Yes you, Sushi Café, since you are in the very heart of Cairo, in one of the city's most popular destinations and well- known landmarks. Sushi is a food which can go horribly wrong when not properly prepared, or when the ingredients are not fresh. But, I took the risk by taking two friends who had never tasted raw fish in their lives. Their eyes seemed to be glazing over at the sight of the raw fish. "That is octopus, and that's eel," I pointed out. The crab was of the synthetic scarlet variety, not the real fresh and flavoursome crustacean. The tuna was too meaty -- a dubious-looking greyish russet rather than the natural ruddy-looking oxblood. The ingredients were unfortunately far from being fresh. The octopus was rubbery and chewy, but not juicy. The eel was palatable. Even the prawns looked as if they had just been pulled out of the deep freezer. They had a most unhealthy-looking greyish tinge. The salmon, too, was a most questionable shade, again a touch too greyish. I have a thing against grey, I must confess: food should be any colour except grey. The colour denotes a lack of freshness, a most off-putting hue. I felt a brief intense ache of happiness, the memory of my last trip to Japan still fresh in my mind. The problem was that the Sushi Café is far from being a strictly-speaking authentic Japanese eatery. Forget the fact that none of the chefs are Japanese. Not even those who trained the chefs are Japanese. Smiling invitingly as they usher you in, the waiters are especially friendly, particularly the Nubian chef, Hassan. We beckoned and he came with a smile and a nod of the head. So who did he train under? "I trained under Chef Hani Youssef," a shy Hassan conceded. "He's one of the best in the field. I have been training for the past two years," he added. Hassan proceeded to give a long litany of praise for his mentor. "He studied the art of making sushi in Europe -- Spain and Belgium. Then he worked at the Heliopolis Sheraton," he assured us. Hassan appeared to be a bit too earnest. His apprentice Hossam smiled shyly from a distance. He didn't utter a word. Oh this was a hopeless exercise. "What is your next lesson young man? Freshness class? Speak up," I snarled. "Oh, I do hope to go to Japan and learn the art of making sushi," he mumbled dreamily. "Run along then, and while you're at it, tell me about the wasabe." Perhaps the problem was that I was asking the wrong question. If I was to have asked him some other more technical questions, he might have become even more huffy. He was a nice young man and did his work conscientiously -- you could tell by the way he was carefully rolling the sushi. The wasabe was divine, and Hassan explained why. "The horseradish powder has freshly arrived from Japan. We use it to make the fiery paste," he smiled from ear to ear. "It's very good for your health." I, myself, like a paste with a bit of bite to it. However, I'm rather suspicious when the food at a Japanese restaurant is not prepared by a native Japanese. In the case of the Sushi Café, there are absolutely no Japanese in sight. This eatery is rarely frequented by Japanese. Indeed, it was nearly empty when we arrived, and had almost no diners when we left, Japanese or otherwise. I am, most certainly, not looking forward to returning for another taste. Sushi Café Food Court Nile Hilton Annex Tahrir Square, Corniche Al-Nil Reviewed order for three came to LE210 Tel: 02 578 0444
