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

Casseruola is a new restaurant on the top
floor of Sun City Mall – and since this mall is kind of upside down, the top
floor is the floor just above the street level entrance. Sun City Mall is
located right across the entrance of the Cairo International Airport from the direction of the Autostrad,
so when parked on the top level of the lot you can actually see the planes.
It is built similar to the shape of a cruise ship with seven floors of retail,
food and entertainment venues including a cinema complex and parking levels.

We were greeted warmly by the
waiters and shown around the place before being seated. The décor has a calm feel to
it, with shades of apple green and cream along with chocolate cushions that
provide a pleasing contrast to the otherwise pastel filled palette. There are
both comfy sofa seating and wooden chairs to choose from. The table setting is
modern and simple with a cutlery holder made of beige mesh cloth and white salt
and pepper grinders in a wooden holder.

We discovered the menu to be in French and
Arabic languages only – which baffled us a bit as the name ‘Casseruola’ gives
the perception that this would be an Italian restaurant. Since we had fasting
guests, and others on a diet, the waiter listened attentively, offered other
choices that were not on the menu and was very flexible with the number of
changes we ordered which was very welcoming. 
We opted for tomato soup without cream, a green salad and a warm goat’s
cheese salad (42LE) as appetizers. The soup came in a small copper saucepan – novel, but too hot to touch and not very practical. The green salad,
though very basic, it was very pleasantly seasoned and appetizing. The
goat’s cheese was abundant but the white crostini it came on was neither
toasted nor soft; the salad was seasoned with tangy balsamic vinaigrette.

The main dishes we selected were: Fillet
Maitre de Paris (98LE) with pasta as a side and roasted vegetables, Pasta
Puttanesca (34LE) without the anchovies, and Chicken with Porcini mushrooms (78LE).

The steak was tasty and cooked tenderly and  the
pasta was al dente with a simple tomato sauce and a variety of roasted
vegetables with a slight rosemary flavour.
The chicken dish came with real porcini mushrooms and was creamy and very intense in flavour. All dishes came with an obligatory side of potato wedges which
were neatly stacked and crispy; golden on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

Although the cheque came on the pricey side,
the warm welcome and the calm décor would entice us to try it out again with
more dishes to taste and desserts yet to discover.