Restaurant review: Green with envy Rolling away the barrel, Gamal Nkrumah dries out quick in a Zamalek watering hole Make no bones about it: steak is the surest bet at Pub 28. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables feature prominently, and so do the lavish lasagna and meaty Hungarian goulash. This is no vegetarian eatery. It is a carnivore's watering hole. The daily specials can be delicious and so can the crazy clientele knocking about, too. The ice buckets abound, whiskey bottles galore and when the waiter comes to take our order the choice is between one green bottle of Stella or another Heineken or the odd Sakkara. Pub 28 is not a restaurant for food-faddy adolescents and for those sporting glasses. The pub isn't the best choice as they steam up pretty quickly. What would stiff upper-lipped British expatriates make of this make-believe British-inspired pub in the heart of sweltering Cairo? Rollicking their way around the labyrinth of Zamalek, their judgement may be undercut by dry wit and a shoal of red herrings. Every season, as endless summer weekends kick off in the Mediterranean seaside resorts of Egypt's North Coast, resolute Cairenes provide the cutting-edge ideas that exhilarate those who prefer to stay put in their favourite haunts and hometowns. They spend long listless days together in the torridity of Cairo summers drinking and reminiscing about the good old days long past, bemoaning the present, and beholding the future with trepidation. The cold snap encapsulated in places like Pub 28 metamorphose into lairs for old-timers who rejoice in the slow passage of seasons in a timeless Cairo. Lackadaisical couch potatoes laze about but those who have no time for the trysting places where centuries slumber, also head for the hangouts they enjoy the most. The searing heat of mid-summer is firmly shut out in freezing, closeted air-conditioned retreats where medium rare steaks are meticulously prepared for meat-eaters. There is rarely an empty table at Pub 28. The great sobering experience for sniveling alcoholics and recalcitrant carnivores, Pub 28 is a Mecca for both kinds of creatures. The irony is that the regulars are invariably frazzled, fiddling with their blackberries, iPhones, iPads and iPods or simply checking their voicemails. Geriatrics, envious of neophytes and greenhorns, seek solace in the cosseted world of Pub 28. No one is likely to be leafing through Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals. Everyone is busy enjoying eating his or her favourite part of an animal. No red- blooded local will drop in at Pub 28 to have dinner with friends and chat about the merits of vegetarianism. The closest one comes to the vegetarian lifestyle at Pub 28 is the delectable onion soup served with dollops of melted cheese. The texture of the onion soup itself is vaguely reminiscent of soggy bread and the bowl is overflowing with a thick brownish broth in a gelatinous marinade that regulars tuck into immediately. And, back to the booze. Egyptians are mid-tablers in the Arab Drinking League. The Lebanese sip their superb wine in slow and relaxed fashion, and Gulf citizens are renowned for bingeing, pouring the liquor down their throats when they have the chance to, especially abroad. That is still an educated guess, I suppose. Eyeing a dear friend denting alcohol's glamour was a thoroughly heartwarming experience. Imagine the thrill of watching my devout teetotaler of a friend sneak up to a glass of red wine and take a furtive sip. She froze with a look of utter horror, masking a nauseated grimace, with a blood stained moustache that made her scowl like a victim bitten by an ensanguined vampire. The regular, heavy drinkers burst out in uncontrollable fits of laughter. Cairo's pubs are far from ubiquitous. Perhaps they are too sanguine. This restraint rankles, for much of the customers constitute the over 60s, and a good number of those need reading glasses, except that there is little need for spectacles in such fuming surroundings. There is, after all, no imminent crisis brewing except probing questions about ageism. Pub 28's dark side is plain enough, but the green powers of beer bottles show no sign of fading. Pub 28 28 Shagarat Al-Dorr Street, Zamalek Tel: 2735 9200 Dinner for two: LE270
