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!

Out & About Exclusive Sneak Peak!

INDIGO

We at Out & About strive to be first to provide our readers with the latest scoops about the new and exciting things happening around Egypt.

Indigo is a brand new pan-Asian restaurant that will be opening (Early 2009) at the ever elite Four Seasons Cairo First Mall. We haven't seen much, but what have seen was truly amazing! If the main entrance of Indigo is anything to go by than we should expect great things from this new restaurant. Expect a modern design and the high quality service that you have come to expect from the First Mall and Four Seasons. Menu and pricing still is unknown, but we reccomend that you start saving up now.

Rest assured once more information is available Out & About will be the first to let you know.

Mojo Lounge Grill

It seems that new cafe/lounge concepts are popping up all over Cairo recently. Most can be skipped, but sometimes there are those diamonds in the rough that should not be. One such new cafe/lounge that we recently tried (and actually enjoyed) was the Mojo Lounge. Being open for about 5 months, Mojo Lounge is a beautiful addition to local dinning scene.

Designed in a simple yet elegant manner, think Sequoia without the Nile and those annoying tents. Mojo Lounge has done a lot with the rather lackluster location it has chosen. Katemeya's 5th District (like most of the city, it seems) is going through a huge building boom, but what makes Mojo Lounge so successful is its secluded, calm and serene setting (even thought its out-doors) would make you none the wiser.

Like most of Cairo's high-end cafe/lounges the menu leaves much to be desired. The standard items are all there (same old pastas and sandwiches). But what Mojo might lack in variety and selection, it makes up for quality and taste of the food. We especially enjoyed the Tomato Soup (best Tomato Soup we had outside the U.S.) and the Thai Chicken Dish.

In our opinion, Mojo Lounge might be a drive, but its well worth it. But don't forget to bring a sweater, it sure can get chilly during the upcoming winter nights.

Mojo Lounge Grill
106, Town Center
Off Road 90
5th District, New Cairo

Tel: 012-9269269
email: reservations@mojothelounge.com
web: http://www.mojothelounge.com/