Restaurant review: Raw feelings Hanan Radwan contemplates a world where sushi replaces money as the medium of exchange Employer: "Congratulations, you're hired. How would you like to be paid?" Myself: "In sushi pieces, please." Lost in this wondrous reverie, I was pleasantly awakened by the tinge of sweet pickled ginger spiking up the taste of nigiri salmon, which I had popped into my mouth and allowed to dissolve gracefully. In reality, I was dining on sushi with a friend at Fuego. In my thoughts, however, I was in a celestial haven. My love for sushi, I confess, makes Romeo's feelings for Juliet pale miserably in comparison. My only problem that evening, however, was that I was dining with a friend who was equally passionate about Japan's masterful culinary renditions of raw fish. A close friend, she nevertheless transforms into a vicious competitor, outpacing me with her chopsticks that grab more sushi pieces off the plate than I am able to. That evening, I need not have worried. Fuego offers an all-you-can-eat sushi deal for LE150 per person every day (LE135 on Mondays and Tuesdays). Although the offer excludes soups, salads, sashimi (raw fish slices) and sushi rolls that contain caviar, my friend and I were not daunted, as the other varieties are plentiful and equally mouthwatering. At first, we were both calm. We shared a dense bowl of miso soup with elegance and decorum. The briny broth was delectable, freckled with creamy tofu cubes entangled in strands of seaweed that was tender but not slimy. Once our sushi order arrived, however, our friendship was tossed aside, and we began our Battle of the Chopsticks. Clicking and bumping against each other like swords, our wooden utensils plucked at the sushi pieces with such speed that our white platter soon became white again before I could utter the word "wasabi". Neither of us was to blame for her voracity. According to Fuego's General Manager Ahmed Abbas, the restaurant prides itself on serving fish that is imported by plane, making it fresher than that which normally arrives after a nine-month journey by sea and is frozen rather than refrigerated. Spanish for "flame", Fuego's namesake denotes its specialty as a grill house that serves prime Australian steaks and charbroiled burgers. The restaurant first opened in Maadi. Its new branch in Zamalek, however, only serves sushi, much to the chagrin of our other friends who cannot fathom our infatuation with raw fish. But the sushi craze is booming in Egypt. On weekend nights or holidays, the I-shaped minuscule eatery is packed with sushivores like us who simply can't get enough of the raw fish rolls. And at Fuego, the rolls are designed with love, generosity and colourful artistry. Take the Philadelphia roll, for instance, a sumptuous circle of salmon, cream cheese and lettuce, all glued together with sticky rice and drizzled with a sweet sauce. Or the Havana roll, a luscious combination of eel, avocado, mango and kiwi. I regaled my taste buds with a series of dragon rolls, heavenly pieces of grilled eel and cucumber wrapped with avocado and topped with teriyaki sauce and sesame. Unable to get enough of eel, I wolfed down many more of the sweet fish slices, resting on a pillow of rice and wrapped together with a ribbon of seaweed. My friend and I had long since stopped talking and instead launched a cacophony of oohs and aahs. After all, how could we resist the mind-blowing taste of delicacies like the dynamite roll -- a choice of shrimp, salmon, tuna or crab packed with cream cheese and wrapped with sushi rice and seaweed, topped with a sliver of smoked salmon or tuna? In an attempt to temper our preferences for raw sushi, we tried the cooked varieties. The hot ura shrimp tempura -- a deep fried roll with cream cheese wrapped with rice and seaweed -- was slightly greasy and bland enough to require a touch of soy sauce. The crispy roll, containing fried shrimp, avocado and crispy rice, was a tad too fishy. In the end, we were untamed. We wanted our sushi cold and raw. As we emerged from our dinner, too satiated and ashamed to recall the number of pieces we were able to devour, I began to mentally draft the words of an e-mail I was considering to send to the World Economic Forum imploring them to consider turning sushi into hard currency. Fuego 35B, Abul-Feda Street, Zamalek
