And I’m the new chicken, clucking open hearts and ears…

Ever since professional eater went wild on with the comments I’ve felt obligated to post a bit about food from my travels. Sadly, the food in Egypt hasn’t been worth blogging home about. That may be partially due to my limited mobility in Heliopolis, although the Grand Café on the Nile was merely adequate, ice-cream non-withstanding. In Cairo, my favorite spot was the NAMRU3 café. Now what does that tell you? Don’t get me wrong they have a fine selection of schwarmas and lamb and on Wednesday they serve an awesome Egyptian mix of pasta, sauce and spices called Kashari (highly recommended by the Egyptian techs and now me). But beyond that, the hotel food has been a let down (it’s a 5-star place, it should be at least decent) and I’ve resorted to raiding various fast-food joints within the adjacent City Stars mall. Last night I ate at Sbarros. In Cairo. Boo me. Twice when my jet lag was still in high gear, I had nothing for dinner but a Coke and some cashews I’d gotten from a local market. (pretty perfect really: sugar AND salt)

Things turned around a bit in Luxor, as the hotel there did have a pretty good buffet, including some Egyptian main courses, salads and desert. It was tasty enough that I went back for thirds, partially because I knew what awaited me in Cairo. The breakfast there was more euro-trad, but still well done.

I also broke down and went to the McDonald’s one night. No, I wasn’t craving for some good ol’ US of A pseudo-meal, I had to get the McRoyal. I mean, a Big Mac’s a Big Mac, but the Royale with cheese…had to be done. But it leads me to the next point:

The reliable Rough Guide warns me that I’m going to get the squirts here, and basically says be prepared and deal with it. Right again Rough guide! At least it’s not the Mexico City street-taco induced ‘OMFG werz the br plz kthx bye’ type of searing distress, but it’s not exactly enjoyable either. It’s like changing a diaper, it’s not that difficult to do, but in the end you still have poop on you. Nothing seems to correct it either, like Freedom Fries from Mickey-D’s. That being the case, tonight I went for the asian eatery in the mall. Turned out to actually be Indian, so I went with the really spicy Chicken Marsala. At least it tasted good.