My mom and I couldn’t be more different about food. If I ever suggest a nice place to eat at, she will say ‘No’ before I even complete my sentence. There-fore, once I started planning a special Mother’s Day meal, I thought it would be best to take her to a place that we both haven’t tried before.
I had been watching Frank & Co.’s Instagram lately and their food looked very interesting. Since my mom is not big on food anyway, some elegant appetizers in a calm atmosphere seemed to be a good idea.
We headed to the restaurant in Maadi, Degla; and a little birdie had already told Frank, the founder and owner, that I am a food blogger, so I really appreciated that he was serving us personally. We also got a chance to meet with his lovely head of customer relations; Gehad. How’s that for VIP treatment, Mom?
For those who know me, you’d probably know that there are three or four things in the world that I do not eat. I don’t eat olives. I don’t eat old, smelly, soft cheeses like blue cheese. And I am not a big fan of green bell peppers or cumin; everything else is fine for me. For those who don’t know my mom, hang on... She only eats lettuce and cheese. She doesn’t eat meat, chicken or fish (or so she claims), she doesn’t eat ethnic food, she doesn’t like to consume too many carbs and she doesn’t come near any unusual combinations of sweet and savory, which is the epitome of all culinary innovations. Sorry Frank, but you’re in for a challenge!
We started with two dips; a red one and a white one, along with some freshly baked bread bites. I immediately grabbed red, while my mom went for white. Red was roasted bell peppers with chili and pistachio; and the sweetness of the peppers with the mild kick from the chili was very well balanced. White was obviously cheese; and I just had a small taste of it because mom seemed to like it a lot. Her first comment on the roasted pepper dip was, “It’s sweet!” and I said “Yes, it’s beautiful.” She just gave me a look and dipped another bread bite into the spinach-cream cheese.
Then we were served a Buffalo Bocconcini and a Kale Apple Salad with Tikka Chicken. Apart from how amazingly good both salads were, the only other thing I seem to remember from that moment was how I was passing over a serving of the kale apple salad to my mom and she quietly asked me to remove the apples with a look like I should have already known to do that before trying to serve her a portion. They are Granny Smith apples, Mom: They’re not even sweet! Gosh!
Tipping the scales to my mother’s favor, Frank then offered her a bowl of fried olives. She asked me to try them because they were “so good.” No, thanks.
We were starting to feel a little bit full when Frank came loaded with a quintet of different nibbles. Grilled, fried and baked; it was all here. We were treated to an assortment of delicious octopus served with smoked paprika potato wedges, baby potatoes stuffed with bacon and cheese, chicken wontons, lemon calamari with chili garlic sauce and a ‘Berliner Currywurst’ with curry ketchup that took me back to my childhood in Germany. I got so nostalgic that I almost cried. I could seriously taste the memories from eating Currywurst as a child in the hills of Allgäu, near the town of Sonthofen.
To finish off our meal, we were presented with an absolute showstopper; Camembert cheese with honey. Mom did not hesitate to grab another warm bread ball and dip it into the baked cheese. “It has honey on it,” I said, but it was too late. She tasted it and she absolutely loved it. Who needs dessert when you can end your meal with this glorious concoction?
Big thanks go out to Frank (and his Co.) for converting my mom into an appreciator of culinary excellence. And bigger thanks to you Mom, for trusting my choice. I love you more than words in this article could ever carry me.
