Restaurant review: Something new you must try Chance wandering can change At first it was a matter of convenience. You know those times when you must find somewhere to sit. I just happened to be in Maadi a lot. One day my companion said they knew a little place tucked away up a short flight of stairs, on one of the quieter streets near the Corniche. It was a pleasant enough walk from Road Nine. Actually I don't remember much of the day besides the uniquely cosy, late-summer-afternoon atmosphere of the place. And the taste of the food.Which -- though I forget what I actually had on that first, unwitting visit -- I can only describe as life-affirming: it had about it, much like that whole, green-as-lemongrass period of my life, an innocent excitement. Not finger-licking but engaging, absorbing even. An experience.Of all the Asian cuisines that have been prostituted to Western, and by extension to so called international tastes, I was to find out that Thai is the closest to my heart. It's difficult to appreciate it elsewhere once you've actually been to Thailand, where they are admittedly somewhat too crazy about chilli, but that doesn't stop you from wanting, and wanting it. Bua Khao, like the menu item that soon became inseparably associated with it -- Fra Ram Rong Song by name -- turned out to be one of a handful of gastronomical refuges. And like a Buddhist sanctuary, I was to return to it again and again. For, even though the innocence is irretrievably lost, excitement persists. Thank God. Going there really does, as the slogan bids you do in the menu's delightfully ingenuous language, "add some spice to your life". Well, perhaps spice is the wrong word, unless it is intended literally, for there is something incredibly soothing about being in Bua Khao. Especially during the day. I think this has less to do with the food than with the space in which it is served: small, unassumingly furnished with little bench-like tables draped with bed linen-like, pink-to-red fabric and matching chairs with red cushions that conjure up the same, home-made impression. Speaking of which, it was in the evening that, on this, the latest occasion -- having actually moved to Maadi -- I rediscovered Egypt's most underrated nut, yet again. For my good old Fra, which the waiters aptly call zomoroda (emerald), is a peanut curry. One which, however mild you order it, and however much steamed rice you have it with, will inevitably leave your entire masticatory appartus quivering with authentic pain.I heartily recommend, before and after it, respectively, glass noodle salad with shredded shrimp and black sticky rice in coconut milk. The latter, sadly, they only had one serving of to offer (for its principal ingredient comes all the way from Thailand), which left me and my lawfully wedded hmming delightedly in turn as we passed the little spoon to each other. Lemongrass or ginger tea fall happily under the category of "Something new you must try", which category I strongly advise you to peruse. There is, in the end, only so much space in your stomach. So unless you are as boringly loyal as I am, I suggest you go through the entire list of colourful curries, complicated noodles and rice dishes, hot and cold drinks and, well, of course, soups. For be sure that Bua Khao is like the Nile: once you've quaffed from it once, you are sure to come back for more.One category you might want to ignore is "European food", although its existence on the menu adds to the feeling that this is a real Thai place, designed as much for Thais, who might occasionally want to diversify, as it is for foreigners.A fully featured meal for two, no alcohol included came to just under LE200. Bua Khao 9 Rd 151, Old Maadi Tel. 378 3355; 358 0126 Open daily 12.00-23.00 By Youssef Rakha
