Now that's Oriental

With an old friend in town, Injy El-Kashef rediscovers some Chinese acquaintances
When you haven't seen a friend in a long time, the nicest way to reunite is over food. Very few things create more intimacy than a shared meal, especially if it's Chinese and there are chopsticks and all the rest of the mess (if you're as messy as I am). How do you really enjoy a slice of watermelon: by cutting it neatly into squares that you politely pick with your fork or by biting straight into that red and green crescent, the fresh juice running down your hands and dribbling off your chin? It's OK, you don't need to share that answer with anyone else -- it's just good to know that we agree.
So off we went, Hassan and I, to the Mandarin in Maadi's Al-Bandar Entertainment Centre. Overlooking the bowling lanes, the Mandarin is a spacious, aesthetically modest but cozy restaurant that one suspects is more suitable to lunch than dinner. The waiter quickly brought some pickles, soy sauce and steamed towels while we were choosing our orders -- always a nice touch. Hassan went for the Shark's Fin Soup while I opted for the Hot and Sour Soup. Although normally his choice would have been the wiser, when I tasted it I wasn't too jealous. It was a nice soup but didn't really taste like shark, in my opinion. Hassan didn't express any amazement, either, but quietly drank it while chatting with me. My soup, on the other hand, was very good. Lots of tofu, pepper and onion floating about and just enough spice to liven things up without spoiling the taste -- it acted as an enhancer, not a local anaesthetic.
Next we dug into the Spring Rolls (can't resist those no matter how many I've had in my life) which were excellent, especially when the taste is injected with the sweetness of the salad. After a short pause, our main courses graced the table: we were sharing a huge plate of Fried Noodles with Chicken to accompany my Beef in Oyster Sauce and his Fried Duck. Because there is justice in the world on some cosmic level, his duck was a million times tastier than my beef. It was fried to a nice crisp yet remained tender at heart. It came with a small dish of salt and pepper in which to dip it and tortilla-like bread for rolling. So delicious that whenever he wasn't giving it away, I just took some, saying, "No, no, it's OK. I just want a taste for the review." The problem with my beef was that, despite the yummy oyster sauce, the beef had (as it all too often seems to have, in such a setting) the consistency of rubber. This particular texture just isn't appealing to me, although everything else was.
Dessert more than made up for it though because, believe it or not, the Fried Almonds with Honey were so impressive that we were no longer talking, too concentrated on eating. Two cups of tea, one LE139 bill, two satisfied stomachs and one pleasant friendship, all courtesy of the Mandarin.
The Mandarin, Bandar 2500, 1 Palestine Rd, New Maadi
Tel 519 1888
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