The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

The Blue
Nile boat in Zamalek is home to several restaurants like Asia Bar, El Morocco,
Lessa Faker and the Moon Deck. The latest aboard the ship is Chez Marius,
a seafood restaurant located on the upper level where Royal Grill used to be. Chez
Marius claims that they serve seafood dishes that have never been served before
in Egypt. One look at the menu however, immediately proved that we’d had these
dishes before.

The
restaurant is fairly small compared to the other venues aboard. There are
between 10 to 15 tables and a cooking station where a chef prepares the food. Outside
in the hallway, the catch of the day is displayed on ice, and you can pick your
preference there.  At the time of our
visit, sea bass, groper and tub gurnard were available. At the time of our visit, a kilo of
sea bass cost 200LE. Instead of fish you can also opt for a kilo of jumbo
shrimp for 300LE or a kilo of medium shrimp for 220LE. The seafood can be
prepared in many different ways such as salt-encrusted, steamed, grilled,
fried, singary, radda or Lebanese style. We opted for the grilled sea bass, which
was grilled with lemon, oil, parsley and garlic. Besides the fish, we decided
to try the Paella (79LE) too.

The
preparation of the fish took ages and since we were very hungry, we decided to
order a portion of tehina (21LE) on the side. The tehina was a bit too sour for
our liking and the portion was relatively small. Our main courses finally
arrived after approximately 45 minutes to an hour. Though we ordered one kilo
of sea bass, most of it seemed to have disappeared while cleaning the fish.
What we were left with were two filets, both around 200 gram. The fish was
seasoned nicely and grilled well but it wasn’t particularly special or delicious.

We didn’t receive any side dishes with the
fish. The paella had brown rice instead of yellow saffron rice and was very
loose in structure. Obviously, the wrong kind of rice was used. It was served
with crab, which was impossible to eat because the necessary cutlery wasn’t
provided, and clams, small shrimp and calamari. Overall, the paella didn’t
taste as real paella should and the seafood portions were paltry.

The
staff was very nice and our drinks were delivered fast. It was just the food that
we had to wait so long for. If Chez Marius would alter their kitchen, the
restaurant would definitely be worth the price you have to pay since the
service is good and the view is unbeatable. Unfortunately, the quality of food
is not as high as it should be.