Restaurant review: Truly tea treats Gamal Nkrumah contemplates balancing Buddhism and chow business The belle with the pitch black pigtail does not dance like a lady facing retirement. Just after the stroke of midnight she leapt with gusto into a group of dancers in their 20s dancing the balmy night away aboard Blue Moon, her hands flying all over the deck and her hips shimmying to the thumping beats of the rumba. I promptly decide now is the time to ask her out and get to the bottom of her penchant for Buddhist teachings. I beseech her for a dining date and she readily obliges by swirling her ponytail into a freaky boogey. "People tell a lot of tales about Chop Chop. It sounds terrific," she barks, now moving like a kung fu matriarch to the quirky music of the pioneering 1990s rappers of the Bronx. "It is lovely to let go of worldly cares," she yells, bellowing above the deafening beat alluding to her Buddhist precepts. Novelty and value for money have both played their parts but so too has another ethereal ingredient: tea. Chop Chop has a stirring collection of tea house specialties that are found nowhere else in all Egypt. The tea menu is immense. Try the astringent and slightly sweet Japanese tea Sencha or the exotic Japanese green tea roasted with brown rice Genmaicha. The flavours are at once fanciful and unforgettable. Adding to the gratifying confusion is the Bai Lin Gong Fu, a golden crimson concoction with a long, mellow aftertaste. Shou Puer exudes a divine earthy aroma reminiscent of old Buddhist monasteries. Lapsang Soochong, or Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, in sharp contrast is a full-bodied tea with a wicked smoky flavour. Tie Guan Yin has a most refreshing hint of honey fragrance that lingers long in your palate. Da Hong Pao is perhaps the strongest Oolong, comparable to a top espresso for coffee aficionados. After a cooling cup of Jasmine Pearls, a quieter, more contemplative blue-back haired bombshell searched the menu for a vegetarian delicacy. And she quickly made up her mind, going for steamed jasmine rice and wok-fried aubergine and asparagus with baby young corn tossed with sweet miso, spring onion and red chilli. She picked the heavenly spring rolls with her immaculately manicured fingernails. I marvelled at the wood-ear mushroom and bamboo shoot combination. I opted for the succulent lettuce wraps with finely chopped chicken, shitake mushrooms tossed in soya and oyster sauce. I salivated over the king scallop, water chestnut and seaweed steamed dim sum. Being the carnivore that I am, I chatted nostalgically with the amicable South African manager Marius Buger, a native of Natal, and we reminisced fondly of biltong, sun-dried, spiced and salted dried game meat eaten as snacks in South Africa, much to the consternation of the jet-black belle. "Society's crude materialism has left an indelible mundane mark and a spiritual and moral vacuum," she reflected ponderously. She eyed my dish disapprovingly, reiterating that strict Zen Buddhism prohibits the consumption of the flesh of sentient beings and alcohol. The bad news is that at Chop Chop, like its Indian counterpart Asha, with no less than seven Indian chefs, no alcohol is served. For those who balk at the idea, however, soothing top teas suffice. For my main dish I was in two minds about a Hunanese lamb curry with capsicum, potatoes and coconut cooked with Hunan curry paste and the Thai red curry with beef. I couldn't resist the beef, exquisitely marinated in celestial Thai spices and so tender that it melts in one's mouth. The coconut red curry complimented the braised beef perfectly. The baby eggplant, a Thai delicacy, lemongrass and hot Thai basil was an awesome potpourri designed to take your breath away. For dessert we tuck into a dish of lychee pannacotta topped with mixed berries. The treat brought us back to the ticklish topic of dance and devotion. Dancing is a prerequisite diversion on the path towards enlightenment. And then before darting off to her next dancing party she adds a tear-jerking closing thought: "as years pass by the memories begin to fade a bit." Perhaps you crave a classic Chop Chop deep-fried sweet spring roll stuffed with banana, mango and jackfruit topped with pomegranate and vanilla ice cream to cheer you up, I sheepishly suggested. Chop Chop Suez Canal Tower, Giza
