INDIAN RESTUARANTS IN SHARM-EL-SHEIKH

Sharm el sheikh, a Red sea resort town, on the list of the global party hoppers has some of the best Indian vegetarian food in Egypt. Unbelievable but true!

I ate at three Indian restaurants there and saw another two, which I could not try out. “Tandoori” on King of Bahrain Street and close to the PaschaSharm discotheque is an award winning restaurant. It is located in the courtyard of the Camel Hotel and the dining is al fresco with an open kitchen. Though I did not much care for the vegetarian food, my dining companions were very happy with the chicken curry that they had ordered. The quality of cottage cheese (known as “paneer” in India) is my yardstick for the quality of food at a restaurant and “Tandoori” was a huge disappointment in this respect. The paneer was like rubber and very hard to chew. Also the potato in the “aloo paratha” had gone stale.

“Rangoli”, the Indian restaurant at the Sofitel Hotel in Na’ama Bay is a posh restaurant with a lovely terrace seating. Here, the cottage cheese preparation is good. The mixed pakoras that we had ordered as starters is tasty too. The methi paratha (bread stuffed with fenugreek leaves) is absolutely divine. The vegetable biryani is mildly spiced and fragrant. They insist on advance reservations, especially if you want to enjoy your dinner on the terrace overlooking the Red Sea. However, the evening we dined at Rangoli, many tables were vacant. The maitre d’hotel was very helpful in guiding us as to the quantity that would be sufficient for our group. Considering that this Indian restaurant is part of the Sofitel Hotel, the prices are reasonable.

The restaurant that I liked the best is “India House” opposite the Buddha Bar. Managed by the same people who run the “Dragon House” in Maadi, Cairo, it has the best Indian vegetarian food that I have eaten in Egypt. The dal fry is so good that I could not have enough of it. The butter nan and the butter rotis are baked just right. My friends, who tried the fish curry loved it as they did the chicken masala. And I was really pleased with the butter paneer masala. Pieces of soft cottage cheese dunked in tomato-onion gravy. Yummm….delicious!

Saw a couple of other Indian restaurants like “Taj Mahal” and “Maharaja”. However, the drawback is that all these restaurants are closed for lunch and open only at around 6.30 p.m in the evening. Therefore, this limits the number of restaurants that one can try out during your stay.