In town for the Melbourne Masterclass recently with the other intrepid foodies amusedbouche.blogspot.com we stumbled across new restaurant The Prince of Egypt over the road from our hotel. Having eaten around Cairo quite a bit I like to consider myself fairly au fait with Egyptian food. In fact, one of my favourite restaurants in the world is in Cairo (Abu el-Sid, Zamalek). I was keen to introduce les pals to moulakhia, Egypt's national dish. You can buy dried and frozen moulakhia in many Middle Eastern shops, and the odd Middle Eastern grocer will get you some from his mother-in-law's garden if you ask nicely. The Prince's version was made with frozen moulakhia. So what is it? It's soup the texture of snot, to put it impolitely. Similar to okra, moulakhia slightly thickens and makes viscous, liquid. Egyptians make a chicken stock, add garlic and moulakhia and often lemon juice. The Prince's version is not as tangy as I like it, but a good version nonetheless, even if it's not quite everyone's cup of tea.The kindly folk at The Prince of Egypt arranged to feed us a range of dishes for price per head: just the way we like to eat. I don't really rate the eggplant and hommus that much (best hommus ever I award to Al-Dhiaffah Al-Iraqi http://www.yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/?action=venue&venue_url=aldhiaffah_aliraqi), I found them too strong in jarred garlic and not tangy enough, respectively. The highlight of the meal was a slow-cooked lamb and okra dish - unctuous and intensely savoury. One of our party had chosen Blue Nun for us to drink. At least we can say we've tried it now.
Go for the moulakhia (if only to experience it once in your life), the grilled meats, and slow-cooked dishes. Great value.
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