Cellar Door - Worth a Visit

This post was originaly posted by Manisha on her own blog spot and we asked her to share it on our blog.
http://living-in-egypt-manisha.blogspot.com/2008/12/cellar-door.html

Cellar Door

Restaurant: Cellar Door
Address: 9, Road 151, Maadi
Tel Number: 2359-8328
Timing: 11am to 11pm
WiFi available

I am not sure why I have never written about Cellar Door though hubby and I have been there for meals ever so often. At one time "Petit Swiss Chalet", Cellar Door has made a huge leap from its erstwhile avtaar, and, I suspect for the better!

Its a chic yet cosy, small eatery located just around the corner from Bua Khao. A few steps transport you down into a trendy, relaxed place whose warmth is further enahanced by the easy manner of its new owner. He's usually to be found there, mingling with the guests, cracking a joke or two, and, generally adding to the atmosphere of the place which is a little irreverent, which makes it a fun place to go to!

They serve you the most delicious garlic bread with a vegetable spread while you browse through two, not one, menu! One is a printed, regular (er stable, lol!) menu while the other is a changing one! Quirky, ain't it? But thats what makes the place fun! Its nice going to place every 6 months and not knowing what to expect!

Today, we ordered a mushroom salad (LE 23), which was very basic but really nice The lemon vinaigrette greatly enhanced the flavour of fresh mushrooms and arugula. Even the Greek salad (LE25), with fresh tomatoes, onion, cucumbers and feta cheese, which I have had before, is quite nice.

Being a predominantly Italian place, there is enough and more choice for the poor vegetarian mortals like me. We ordered a home made gnocchi (LE27) in a tomato sauce, a home made lasagna (LE29) and spaghetti with a cream sauce (LE27).

The gocchi was soft, which is great, cos you can really mess up the gnocchi and the last thing on my mind was a battle between my teeth and the gnocchi! The lasagne tasted good though I though the pasta was a liitle underdone, but the yummy roasted vegetables made up for it! The spaghetti was a nice foil to the cheese and tangy tomato sauces we had had so far.

One of us had ordered fish in butter lemon sauce that was served with some rice. She thought the fish was very well done, more so cos a similar fish she ate at Crave the previous night had not been so good.

The other thing that I love about Cellar Door is their tableware. Plain white porcelain in large outsized plates and serving dishes , it makes the food look delicious - half the battle won! I was very tempted to ask the owner where he got the tableware from, but desisted from doing so!

We ordered a caramel cheesecake, which I must admit, was yummylicious! Though we all shared it, I thought it was perfect. In fact, I think I will send my driver to pick one up for lunch tomorrow! Now I know why I seem to fight a loosing battle as far as my waistline goes!

If I remember correctly, they allow you to carry your own wine but you need to pay corkage at LE 40. A bottle of wine at Cellar Door costs LE135, so it makes sense to carry your own and pay the corkage, if you have a specific wine in mind.But I think, the place is definately worth a visit, and, we at least like the food quite a bit!