Restaurants food & drink in Sharm el Sheik

While most Egyptian cuisine does little to excite the palate, Sharm el Sheik has one major card up its sleeve, the Red Sea. The catch comes in a myriad of, colours, shapes and sizes, but commonly appearing on the menu are bass, sole, shrimp, calamari, eel and scallops.

Sharm has two noted seafood restaurants; Al-Fanar, whose position beneath the lighthouse commands a sea view and has a relaxed Bedouin feel to it, but is not for those on a tight budget, and Safsafa in the old mall, who boast the best calamari in town. A ten-minute taxi ride north takes you to Na'ama Bay where the restaurants are generally of a higher standard and tend to inflict more punishment on your wallet.

Mother of Ali, Umm Ali
Tracking down the provenance of this dish is more difficult than you would at first imagine. To which Ali are we referring? And just who was his mother? Such genealogical meanderings aside we do know one thing about her, she could cook. Her eponymous dish is a favourite during the fasting month of Ramadan. Lay western eyes may be forgiven for mistaking this pudding for the offspring of an amorous encounter between a bread and butter pudding and a spotted dick. But that would be to miss the poetry of the milk drenched filo pastry, dressed with toasted pistachios, almonds and plump raisins, finished with a dusting of cinnamon and a sprinkle of rosewater before it's ready for the oven.

Lentil Soup Shorbet Ads
When the late American Philosopher Ralph W Emerson mused that 'Nothing is more simple than greatness, indeed, to be simple is to be great', the chances are that he didn't have a bowl of lentil soup on his mind. A shame as the comment is tailored to this wholesome broth. Lentils, tomato, cumin and that's it. The final touches are left to the diner: a squeeze of lemon, a pinch of dried chilli flakes and a sousing with black pepper. The dish is so popular that it can't be contained by one mealtime, and is as comfortable on the breakfast table as served in the evening.

Sayadeya Fish Tagen
Sharm's fish tagen isn't a million miles away from baked fish curry. The tagen is an earthenware pot, in which goes a couple of plump and fresh fish fillets(typically Sea Bass) some diced onion, garlic, tomato and coriander. The dish is served on a bed of steamed rice, drenched with lime juice and seasoned with dill. To get the most out of your meal it's best to avoid the local wines, as they are largely unpalatable, and spend the few extra pounds on a bottle imported from neighbouring Israel

Mansaf
At the heart of every mansaf or Bedouin feast, lies lamb. It can take on a number of guises, but the goal is to find one whole, turning slowly on a spit over an open fire. The ideal backdrop is one of stars and the silhouettes of Bedouin tents amid the wadis and plateaus of the Sinai desert. The feast arrives on a communal clay platter, a mountain of buttered rice studded with the roast lamb, almonds and pine nuts. Accompanied with a fiery sauce and some cooling yoghurt the mansaf is to be eaten with nature's cutlery, the fingers.

Tarator
Arguably the Sinai's most value asset is its marine life, and while most come just to observe, few leave without having had at least a few mouthfuls. Out here fish are truly deserving of the adjective Brobdingnagian, which to the diner means generous steaks of hamour(a member of the grouper family), swordfish and turbot drenched in tarator sauce. The sauce is thick and creamy, drawing together the flavours of either pulped pine nuts, sesame seeds or almonds with garlic and lemon.