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| El Andalous Restaurant - Shisha Area |
Surprisingly, it appears that high season here is May to October; I would have imagined the winter months to be more popular for tourists. Anyway, since high season was approaching , many aspiring businesses try to be ready before the influx of visitors. One such business included the poolside restaurant at El Andalous. This has been planned for some time, but a flurry of activity (or rather sudden bursts of activity, followed by inactivity, followed by further movement) meant that all of a sudden the rumoured restaurant suddenly opened.
Consequently, another social event shortly after Lena’s departure was breakfast in order to celebrate its opening, organised by Jac. She’d bravely managed to arrange for nineteen of us to go – this is Egypt, so it was timed for a leisurely 10am, I think, which suited me fine.
However, few things in life run smoothly. It turned out that the restaurant did not normally do breakfast and they were, therefore, arranging this especially for us. As a result, they charged an extortionate price for it (110 LE discounted to 100 LE per person). Don’t get me wrong, the spread was beautiful with croissants, jam, pains au chocolat, Danish pastries, fresh orange juice, coffee, fresh fruit salad, cold meats, cheese… but you could get a similar breakfast for around half the price just down the road.
As a result, on the day, six or seven people dropped out altogether, due to the price. The rest of us bit the bullet and decided to forget it and just enjoy ourselves. It was already very hot, so we moved the tables about a bit when we arrived so that more of us could sit in the shade; the tables were decorated very nicely with good crockery and it looked great. I don’t really eat cold meats, and cheese is a definite “no” for me, but I made sure I ate as much as I could (that student mentality never really leaves!) and certainly enjoyed the bread, pains au chocolat, etc. Amanda and John, who I’d sat with, kindly thrust the leftovers onto me before we left, given that we’d effectively already paid for them.
Unfortunately, some people were under the impression that they could pay just for what they ate. Consequently, Fanney and Fridbert each just ate a croissant and had a cup of coffee and when they got the bill, they thought it was pretty good value. However, it turned out that they were looking at the 10% discount believing that to be the total after discount. They weren’t so pleased when they were asked to pay ten times that amount!
Despite everything, it was actually an enjoyable morning. You win some, you lose some….
Consequently, another social event shortly after Lena’s departure was breakfast in order to celebrate its opening, organised by Jac. She’d bravely managed to arrange for nineteen of us to go – this is Egypt, so it was timed for a leisurely 10am, I think, which suited me fine.
However, few things in life run smoothly. It turned out that the restaurant did not normally do breakfast and they were, therefore, arranging this especially for us. As a result, they charged an extortionate price for it (110 LE discounted to 100 LE per person). Don’t get me wrong, the spread was beautiful with croissants, jam, pains au chocolat, Danish pastries, fresh orange juice, coffee, fresh fruit salad, cold meats, cheese… but you could get a similar breakfast for around half the price just down the road.
As a result, on the day, six or seven people dropped out altogether, due to the price. The rest of us bit the bullet and decided to forget it and just enjoy ourselves. It was already very hot, so we moved the tables about a bit when we arrived so that more of us could sit in the shade; the tables were decorated very nicely with good crockery and it looked great. I don’t really eat cold meats, and cheese is a definite “no” for me, but I made sure I ate as much as I could (that student mentality never really leaves!) and certainly enjoyed the bread, pains au chocolat, etc. Amanda and John, who I’d sat with, kindly thrust the leftovers onto me before we left, given that we’d effectively already paid for them.
Unfortunately, some people were under the impression that they could pay just for what they ate. Consequently, Fanney and Fridbert each just ate a croissant and had a cup of coffee and when they got the bill, they thought it was pretty good value. However, it turned out that they were looking at the 10% discount believing that to be the total after discount. They weren’t so pleased when they were asked to pay ten times that amount!
Despite everything, it was actually an enjoyable morning. You win some, you lose some….
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