Ciccio, my ass

In honour of the merciful end of Ramadan…which I have more or less observed since it’s pretty inconvenient to order food at work by myself.

This "Italian cafe" is a wee spot on Marashly Street in Zamalek. The person who took my order actually had to go turn down the Quran blaring in the background to hear me, but was otherwise quite nice. The order took AGES to arrive considering the minute distance they had to travel. I ordered a smoked turkey sandwich which I was informed came with a “garnish” of potatoes. These turned out to be a serving of soggy fries. Luckily I like soggy fries, but there was no ketchup, which I consider to be a cardinal sin in the list of restaurant sins. It’s the second time they’ve done this, too, so it’s IN THE BONE.

The turkey sandwich, alleged to contain cheddar, was simply a fino loaf with a slice of supermarket turkey, a slice of processed mystery cheese and some limp shredded lettuce all popped into the toaster. For 16 pounds. The latte I ordered was mostly milk, and was small and in a thin plastic container that melted in crinkled waves from the hot coffee. 15 pounds. They did provide adequate sugar packets AND sweetener though.

So…that was poop. It’ll close down in a couple months.