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

Inspired
by Cairo winter weather and the festive season, we were longing for some good-old
winter food. Switzerland is known for its glorious ski slopes, wonderful
watches, the UN headquarters on a more boring note, and cheese. Lots and lots
of cheese. They don’t just eat it; no they melt it, mix it with wine and then
dip their food into it. Now what is cosier than fighting with your dinner
company about who dropped which piece into the boiling hot cheese?

Le Chalet
in Giza has been a Cairo landmark for years now. If you’re not aware of the
restaurant, then you might be familiar with the likes of La Chesa in Downtown , Le Chantilly in Heliopolis or Le Chateau, which is
situated above Le Chalet- they’re all run by the same people. Located on the Giza
Corniche close by to Asha’s and Chop Chop, the restaurant is easy to reach and
parking is rarely a problem.

The
restaurant decor looks like a typical chalet you would normally find in the
Alps. The only thing missing is a rack outside to put your skis into. Pretending
to be obnoxious skiers from Saint Moritz, we started off with the smoked salmon
and toast (95LE). While waiting for our starter, we were presented with four different
hot buns straight out of the oven. The salmon was served with red onions,
capers and lettuce. Though salmon normally doesn’t need many additives, this serving
tasted bland and boring. The salmon was generous but we would have appreciated
a more exciting dish.

The cheese
fondue (179LE) was served sizzling hot. We were presented with pieces of
toasted bread to dip into the cheese. Though the cheese fondue tasted good, we
were not quite satisfied. It could have been prepared with a bit more wine in
order to make the taste a bit sharper. It was also a bit disappointing that we only
received bread pieces to dip with. For such a high price, it wouldn’t have hurt
to add mushrooms, pineapple pieces, broccoli or cauliflower to the mix

We also
ordered the medley of beef medallion with pepper sauce, chicken cordon blue and
fish with lemon sauce (93LE). If you don’t know what to pick; this is a great
dish as you get a bit of everything. We loved the white fish with lemon sauce
and would have happily devoured more of it. The beef medallions were a bit disappointing.
We requested the meat to be prepared medium, but unfortunately it was served
well done.  The chicken cordon blue was
tasty although it could have had more cheese.

The
highlight came at the end of our meal in the form of chocolate fondue (30LE).
With the bowl of delicious fluid hot chocolate we received strawberries, apple,
banana, cantaloupe, biscuits and whipped cream to dip with.

Le
Chalet is a nice restaurant but very pretentious. The prices are far too high
for what they serve up, with the 179LE cheese fondue been a prime example of
that.