Restaurant review: Universal unfolding Laying down her cards, Injy El-Kashef seeks the winning shore Columbus couldn't have regretted the sweat and the pain, the patience and the thirst, when the land he sought first appeared on the distant horizon. Those were the price, as well as the rules, of the game. In Ridley Scott's excellent film adaptation of the legendary quest, it was the sting of a mosquito bite that heralded the explorer's arrival to a shore everyone, perhaps even he in moments of doubt, believed could only exist in the mind. But Columbus was not insane for seeing beyond the convergence of sea and sky -- nor is anyone who, suddenly aware of the checkered board beneath his feet, is inspired to make his way from one side to the other. If you know where the Iberotel Sharm is situated, you will have no difficulty locating Columbus -- a delightful little restaurant with its own special circle of clientele. Although open from quite early in the morning for delectable breakfast treats, this eatery is more usually frequented for lunch and dinner, when the sand is hot, the air is warm, and the sea gradually changes colour before the teaming horizon. Such is atmosphere, for real. Surprising, isn't it, that we don't have too many choices of venue hailing from the southern American hemisphere? After all, what you eat is who you are, and the Latin psychology is so much like our own. Well, Columbus is a mighty good answer to the problem posed by the occasional penchant for Mexican food tickling the palate, and the fact that the prices emanate from a generous spirit is even more reason for many a Sharmer to become a regular at this unique land of the free. So, if you are in that chillied mood, try a Mexican wrap, which will always greet you with sizzling arms -- and never forgo the beans to accompany it. The ambiance of Columbus is relaxed and homey, the decor fun without being absurd. It all adds up to a sum rather significantly larger than its parts, executed with subtle taste and a discerning sense of quality. The crowd is boisterous enough to give the place an unmistakable liveliness, one that nonetheless does not for a minute impinge on your own exclusive right for a quiet session in which to nourish both body and soul. Columbus was a visionary and an explorer; he went to places where no man had ever been -- yet in the very act of discovery lies the underlying requisite of his own presence, which transformed what he found into his very own creation. An identity would forever link discoverer and discovered. An apt name, therefore, for an enterprise that establishes its selection of food on the basis of an increasingly prevalent concept of cultural exchange. You will find Italy in the pasta, side by side with an American steak -- both authentic, both delicious, each uniquely New World. And, needless to mention, no restaurant in Sharm could dream of forgetting about seafood dishes without risking quite a few raised eye brows here and there, if not everywhere. It would be unthinkable. If swimmers are what you dream of, the fish and chips are highly recommended for a light, yet filling, snack in between refreshing dips in the Red Sea. Come to drinks and the plot will only continue to thicken. If you want to hit the jackpot, the fresh juice of the day is definitely the way to go -- gulp one down and the bubbles will be floating out of your soul rather than into your stomach. Leave the fizzy emptiness of man-made alternatives behind, and you will be heeding nature's call. Can't stop thinking of that mosquito bite -- and to remember all the self-inflicted pinches that brought no discoveries along the way! It all leads to the same conclusion: that if one could turn back the clock, one would make the same mistakes, only sooner. Would Columbus have sailed onwards without all his men and ships? Perhaps, perhaps not. But the mosquito cannot bite until the big water has been crossed, even if all one has left is a raft with which to battle with the waves. Columbus Grand Iberotel Naama Bay Sharm El-Sheikh
