Hurghada - Going Out

Moby Dick, Hurghada

My life is still continuing to be sociable, so I’ll stay with this theme for another blog.

Celebrations and get-togethers haven’t been limited to the confines of El Andalous or Sahl Hasheesh. Hurghada is just 30 minutes away by taxi (total return taxi costs around 180 LE these days, which by current exchange rates works out at about 8 GBP).

Three of us went out with the Lotus Ladies to a place that I’d been to before called Moby Dick. It’s known for good steaks and is on the Sheraton Road. There were about 16 of us, I think, and we had our own area upstairs with a balcony looking over the street. I didn’t take a steak since I had one before and I still think the best steaks are at the Heaven in the new marina or in Bus Stop in Sahl Hasheesh. Consequently, I opted for beef stroganoff instead, which wasn’t really like beef stroganoff at all (no cream, no brandy), but everything is always a bit of a gamble over here. However, it tasted pretty good all the same, and the meat was tender, which was the main thing. One of our group took the camel steak which looked really good, so if I go there again, I might try that. I have had camel steak once before and not really seen the point of it (I preferred the beef), but maybe it’s worth another shot in a different establishment.

Another place, quite some time ago now, that I went to with the Lotus Ladies was Grenada, which overlooks the sea. The staff was attentive and I remember the food as being quite good. I was told that it’s a great place to go for breakfast – at night, we didn’t really get the benefit of the sea views – so I’d like to try that some time (it would have to tie up with a day in Hurghada, I think, to make it worthwhile).

And then this last weekend Sandy threw a leaving party at the Caribbean bar in the Bella Vista hotel in Hurghada. It was a cool concept, as they allow you to bring your own meat and then they’ll cook it for you and bring it to your table for a service charge. Igor, a friend from Sunset Pearl, happens to be a chef and he knows a butcher in Hurghada, so he kindly offered to buy the meat and spice it. But you can also just buy off their menu there, which was reasonably priced. We bought drinks and a litre of a cocktail of your choice off the menu was only 79 LE (around 3.5 GBP). Kathryn and I shared “a large swimming pool” and “a large sucky”, ho, ho, ho.

Anyway, it was a super venue. There was a live singer from 9pm until midnight (although he went on for longer), so after stuffing myself silly with all the food, I tried to dance off a few calories over three hours. The location was overlooking the Red Sea, only in winter it’s too cold at night to be in the open air, so they’d covered it up; it would be a great place to go back to in the summer when you can look out directly onto the sea while you eat and dance.

One of the guests at our table was a young entrepreneur who was just setting up a similar concept in El Gouna, so it looks as if we may all be traipsing over there in mid-February. It’s a never-ending string of events just now!