Restaurant review: Red Sea chippy Gamal Nkrumah discovers a pub that serves fish and chips on a stretch of beach a couple of hours away from Cairo Here's a tip: if you want to enjoy a traditional English fish and chips dish, do not stop over at the Sailor's Pub. A few customers plough stoically through their meals, though most are concentrating on their drinks. The fuss over the perfect fish and chips dish today seems small beer to compare with the traditional treat of yesteryear. The traditional "chippy", as the English call their fish- n-chips eatery, has never became popular in Egypt. I guess, the Egyptians have their own tried and tested ways of cooking the denizens of the deep, whether freshwater Nile perch or the Red Sea and Mediterranean varieties. The Sailor's Pub can be mistaken for one of the Red Sea resorts' biggest tourist traps, but not because it is particularly big. In actual fact, the place is smallish, but not tiny. It is the average size of an English Pub. It is not an English pub implanted in Egypt, though. It is spacious enough to accommodate small parties of package tourists. It is pleasant, and the waiters are helpful. Even though the Sailor's Pub is not spectacularly huge, it is blessed with lots of natural light, and furnished tastefully and simply with cream coloured walls. A couple of hour's drive from Cairo, Ain Al-Sukhna is ideal for day trips. And, the Sailor's Pub is well worth the stopover, especially in summer, when it can metamorphose into the perfect watering hole. The bar is well-stocked and you inevitably bump into middle-aged red-faced khawagas [Westerners] with protruding beer bellies and invariably inebriated. Few Egyptians frequent the place and it is as much a place to drink as it is to eat. It was nonetheless with an open mind that I dropped in to experience the ambiance of this eatery for myself. At first glance, it is anything but a typically British pub. If you want to try the real stuff go elsewhere. First mention of fried fish in British literature was in Charles Dickens' 1838 classic Oliver Twist -- "fried fish warehouse". And, the first mention of fried potato chips, was in Dickens' Tale of Two Cities. In this 1859 masterpiece, Dickens speaks of "husky chips of potatoes, fried with some reluctant drops of oil." As for the Scots it is a "fish supper". Yes, the food did not take long to materialise. A smiley welcoming waiter explained we should order at the bar. I don't see what is wrong with that. But, another came two minutes later to take the order. My fish was enough to feed three people. The chips were neither overly crisp nor soft and soggy. They were cooked to perfection. It is, ironically, the quintessence of a South African watering hole: hanging on the walls are rifles of various kinds, a stag's head, fish and numerous paintings of sailing vessels and guns galore. It no doubt adds to the disorderly ambiance of the Sailor's Pub, but it also lends it a certain charm. And, yes, there are many South Africans who frequent the Sailor's Pub. South Africans call their French fries "slap chips". And, that term is occasionally heard in the Sailor's Pub. I enjoyed my meal. There is no counter with fresh fish and crustaceans; instead there is the bar with lots of alcoholic beverages. The array of drinks is alluring, the food is not particularly great, but it is edible and filling. The fish was not terribly authentic. But then I had to remind myself that the Sailor's Pub is essentially a watering hole and not a gourmet restaurant. So what makes the Sailor's Pub so special? It is the fact that it is next to the beach, it is in the heart of a plush and enchanting holiday resort, and it is a cool place to hang about. Sailor's Pub The Plan Stella di Mare 46 Suez-Hurghada Road Tel: 206 225 0200 Lunch for two: LE200
