Restaurant review: Good but not great It takes more than charcoal to produce a well grilled steak, as Hanan Radwan finds out I was once introduced to a young woman whom I will call Mona. She loved to play the piano and her biggest dream was to join a chamber orchestra. But she never managed to realise her dream. Watching her thumping the piano keys with her fingers, I could sense that she had put in a lot of effort and practice. But there was something missing. Despite her diligence, Mona had no ear for music. Chewing on my steak at Avenue Restaurant, I was reminded of Mona's misfortune. Like the wannabe pianist, the chefs and waiters at Avenue try hard to please. The steaks are enormous, the sauce boats are deep and brimming with liquid, and the service obsequious. Yet, while the food is acceptable, it lacks the culinary finesse that distinguishes a good restaurant from a corner café. To be sure, the owners of Avenue have not skimped on the setting. The restaurant's interior designer has taken pains to make customers feel that they are dining outdoors on the pavement of an avenue somewhere in Europe. The trimmings are plentiful: a meandering tiled path slicing through the L-shaped interior, flanked by two raised "pavements" on which the tables have been set; protruding wall decorations depicting house façades complete with red awnings, balconies and potted plants; another façade of a music shop, and a traffic light at the end of the tiled path. Even the ceiling has not been forgotten: painted in blue-gray hues and dotted with countless stars, it conveys the ambiance of an alfresco dinner on a sombre autumn night just before a rain shower. As my friend and I browsed through the menu, the waiter slid before us a plate filled with toasted baguette slices brushed with garlic and sprinkled with dry thyme. A nice gesture, but given the calorie-laden offerings on the menu, we took barely a nibble. Our order of stuffed mushrooms brought forth a plate filled with what looked like moldy pebbles. But appearances can be misleading. The clumpy, odd-looking batter was light and pleasantly crunchy, the mushrooms fresh and the oozing cheddar cheese stuffing was rich but not overpowering. Although detailed definitions of rare, medium-rare, medium-well and well-done grilling are printed in the menu and on the paper table mats before us, my order of well-done rib-eye steak was not grilled by the book. I discovered bright pink patches in my slab of meat, which the alarmed waiter took back for more grilling. With a string of apologies, he brought back a more palatable order. A sprawling mound of penne pasta in garlic cream sauce speckled with mushrooms accompanied my steak. The pasta was delicious and plentiful -- perhaps too plentiful. Although steak and pasta is the restaurant's theme, my taste buds yearned for old- fashioned meat and potatoes. And if the food wasn't rich enough, the dish -- like all the entrees in the menu -- comes with your choice of sauce, in my case a heavy mushroom paste. My friend's fillet mignon, ordered well-done, was a better cut of meat and grilled to perfection. Alas, however, the meat came smothered with an orange-brown bitter cheese sauce that undermined that perfection. And like all the food we sampled, the dish was too salty. Although overwhelmed with meat, cheese and cream sauces, we ventured to dessert. Our choice of toffee and nut cake was not available so we settled for the chocolate mousse cake, which we both shared. But even between the two us, we could not complete half of the muddy, intensely rich dessert. In the end, I felt uneasy about Avenue. Like Mona, the owners and staff try hard and mean well. The result is not disastrous. But I do not foresee Avenue as a candidate for a culinary Hall of Fame. Avenue 45 Al-Nour Street, Mohandessin Telephone: 3749 8215/6 Dinner for two: LE270
