Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Panzerotti

You might have seen this little place next to that shop that sells nothing but fancy stupid fans. Fans! I was pretty sure it was merely a money-laundering business, but a friend assures me that people actually buy those fans and that she knows the owner. Still.
I love panzerotti (is that the plural?) and, of course, Seinfeld so I decided to order one.
I picked the Panzerotto Sausage, boasting mozzarella, tomatoes, green pepper and sausage. These things were all spelled correctly. My ponciness is such that this is an influential factor in food selection. I also tried to order a coffee but their coffee machine is broken, as it has been for several weeks. This country suffers an extreme lack of coffee, especially affordable, good coffee. Fellow Canadians can now join me for a moment of silent reflection the sheer, unparalleled, miraculous awesomeness of Tim Horton’s coffee. Dear Tim, you are responsible for my completion of a law degree. Hug.
Anyway, my panzo arrived. It was not good. I suppose the dough and degree of baking-ness was OK, although not standard fare. The sausage was definitely hot dog, all boiled and horrible. There were by no means tomatoes or green peppers. Instead, there were olives, which I hate. It was also deeply undersauced.
In conclusion, I’d probably order this again, just to see if directing copious instructions would make a difference. Besides, it’s still Cairo, and the food here is just bad.

7 comments:

Scott McKenzie said...

I tried the fungi. I thought it was ok, until I realized the bread was deep fried. Then I became concerned for my poor arteries.

Otherwise, it was as advertised, full of not very impressive mushrooms.

I dont think that is sauce, I think it is just spice that looks like tomato sauce.


I did like the decor. But, you cant eat pretty walls.


Java House get all the credit for my law degree.

thingsonmymindgrapes said...

I hope to one day receive a virtual hug in one of your posts. Maybe not because you bit into me and liked what you had, though.

Also, that "sandwich" sounded gross.

Molly said...

ew. boiled hot dog. I too am always pleased to find correct spelling on menus here and will often feel better about ordering from them if they spell it right.

seriously, remove the word verification!

Anonymous said...

part of the problem may be that you are eating at shitty pseudo-european places in zamalek, which is as distastefully uncairene as it gets. you don't actually expect any of that crap to be good, right? try going to alexandria.

Forsoothsayer said...

well, i can hardly be expected to order lunch at work from alexandria, can i? i don't suppose you read much about the purpose of this blog.
and if you're suggesting i kick it "real" and have foul and ta3miya every day...you obviously haven't had the foul and ta3miya in zamalek. and also, i hate ta3miya.

Anonymous said...

i didn't see an about section. but not much can be said anyway for baladi egyptian cuisine, least of all in zamalek. i'm just suggesting you take a trip up to alexandria and relieve your streak of poor gastronomic adventures

d. said...

Hi there! I live in Milan, Italy, and work right behind the corner of the original Luini's panzerotti place. In the last two decades, (I used to get one panzerotto when I cut school as freshman, in the 1980ies), even here the quality of panzerotti fell below acceptable standards. First thing, the size is getting smaller and smaller, their price bigger and bigger. 3,00 Euros each now. The tomato sauce and the mozzarella cheese aren't half good the way they used to be. I guess the shop became too popular and quality decayed... I also spent quite some time in Cairo and I guess it's difficult to get good food in Zamalek.