Cafe Le Caire

Twice I have been here in the hopes that this restaurant with all the right ingredients would pull it together and impress me. Both times I've been extremely disappointed.

Ambience
The first visit we were seated upstairs with a party of 15+ on a Friday night (midnight). Good place for accommodating large groups, good decor. 2nd visit was a Monday dinner group of 3 by the 5 foot ways outside - unfortunately not so good. the two tables could not fit our 1 meze, 1 foul harissa, 1 falafel sandwich, 1 chicken cutlet, 1 mushroom kebab and 3 drinks. Plates were literally stacked up against each other. Why - you ask? Which brings us to...

Service
Truly the deal breaker and reason I cannot, will not and won't be going there or recommending other people to go there again. The most recent visit (Monday dinner)
1) I specifically told the waitress to serve the meze and foul first as starters, knowing that they DO take time to make the main meals. I even told her in both English and her native Indonesian. What happened:
a) the meze came a full 20min before anything else.
b) no cutlery (at all) was served until we had to catch about 3 waiters’ attention

We ordered chicken cutlet and mushroom kebabs. We sat down at 7.45pm and ordered by 8pm. The main meals came at 9pm. 1 full hour after. We had nearly cancelled our main meals and were about to LEAVE when they arrived. And it was not a busy night, despite what the wait staff allege.

Unfortunately, more minor details irked my tourist guests off – e.g ordering a pot of their signature mint tea – the tea is in the form of tea dust, yet they did not have a single tea strainer for us to use and had to bring the tea back to the kitchen to strain it there. The previous time I had been there I drank dusty tea.

The first visit to the restaurant, they forgot my foul harissa order completely. When I asked to cancel the order, there was a confusion with the waiters. 20min later, the dish arrived even though I had cancelled it and they begged me to take the order (really unprofessional!)

Great location, great ambience isn’t enough to bring me back. And at $67 for 3 people for a thoroughly unsatisfying meal, I’d much rather have my Middle Eastern fix at the local coffeeshop that serves a great foul mesdammes.

Four-in-One

No, the music is very tame in fact, but I haven’t come across a dining place that offers the same menu in four different settings! And this is happening in Arab Street? And don’t be put off by the low ambience al fresco setting that is more akin to a hawker stall. Go for the well hidden upstairs chic contemporary “fine dining” environment or the upstairs shisha smoke-filled carpeted floor-sitting Middle East setting or the sofa laden lounge setting. This place has been around since 2001 but given the no review status in HGW, I can classify this as a hidden find, right?

Arab Street is Changing

The staff tells us that Dr Amin Talib, who lectures at SMU (Singapore Management University), is the owner. He wasn’t there but a quick search shows that Dr Talib is quite prominent, being Chairman of the Kampong Glam Business Association. The continuing growth in popularity of “shoptaining” malls plus the universality of ready-made clothing has seen the demise of tailoring and textile retailing in Arab Street. However, in recent years, restaurants and cafes offering Turkish, Arabic and other Middle Eastern cuisine have mushroomed, creating a burgeoning nightlife. And you also have the Malay Heritage Centre in the area providing a cultural dimension.

The “Fine Dining” Section

The upstairs “fine dining” section was air-conditioned, chic with window views just above head height of Arab Street. Every dining furniture set is solid-wood but different, as if each is unique, or they have been acquired over time - very charming. Apart from a few IKEA-sourced mirrors and a knotted tapestry, the wall deco is subdued. Polished wooden floors and soft lighting from brass-plated lamps completes the contemporary ambiance.

High Churn Rate of Wait Staff

We got the impression that many of the wait staff are hospitality trainees from overseas like Nepal, Yemen, India, etc., which explains the apparent high churn rate of wait staff. However, being hospitality trainees they are at least not as clueless as the many inexperienced and untrained wait staff one finds in so many establishments. Clever strategy except that some of their English skills may not really be adequate.

How’s the Food?

I tried the Sharam El Sheik ($4.50) ice cold drink (Sprite with lime and pomegranate juice) which was pleasant enough, though the pomegranate flavour was overwhelmed by Sprite and lime.

The Falafel Basket ($6.50) came with six falafels (fried patty of spiced fava beans and chickpeas) accompanied by tahini dip. It was ok, though I find the tahini a bit too oily, the patty had a crunchy exterior but the core too floury and not flavoursome enough. Of course, I could have been spoilt by the fantastic ones I tried during my visits to Lebanon. The menu describes falafel as a highly popular form of prototypical street food in the Arab world, now seen as an uniting, pan-Middle Eastern dish. Recent waves of mass migration out of the Middle East has popularized the falafel sandwich worldwide and “iconised” it as alternative vegan fast food.

The Vegetarian Kebab ($8) of mushrooms, yellow and red peppers and zucchini was competent and tasted as it should, though a tad oily, and we’re not sure if tahini was the best dip/sauce accompaniment.

The added Bukhari rice as a side ($1), with visible cardamom seeds, raisins, fried shallots, etc., was alright.

The substantial wide range of gourmet, flavoured, herbal & floral teas, as well as the home specialty of traditional samovar tea makes this a cool chill out place (would be even better if they can provide the latest contemporary chill out music from that part of the world, say Lebanon.) I found saffron tea! So I tried that, saffron being one my favourite rice accompaniments, and certainly the distinct saffron flavour was unmistakable.

The menu also says Hi tea at $15 net, on Saturdays and Sundays from 3pm to 6pm, offering an assortment of Middle Eastern cuisine, dessert and a variety of teas. Must try this one day.

Now onto the Fish Kebab ($11), pieces of grilled marinated fish fillets, separated by green peppers, accompanied by fresh greens and tahini dip/sauce. Once again I think there’s an overuse of tahini in this joint. The fish fillets were not evenly marinated, some being tastier than others but overall the fish tasted quite good. The fish was white and had a soft floury texture, like butter fish – it was escolar, we were told but not being a fish connoisseur, I’ve never heard of it.

Beware Escolar!!

Out of curiosity, I did a search on escolar and my, did it unearth a heap of controversy. Escolar has earned the nickname “the castor oil” or “Ex-Lax fish.” It is often mislabeled as “sea bass” but read this from the Food Standards Agency of the UK, an independent Government department.

“But because of its heavy fat content, escolar can, if not prepared properly or if eaten in large quantities, have a laxative effect causing stomach cramps and diarrhoea. Grilling will tend to reduce the heavy fat content whereas battering will not.
Additional symptoms, which may appear within 3-12 hours after eating the fish, include headache, nausea and vomiting. Recovery usually takes 24-48 hours. The illness may be more severe in older people and those with an existing bowel condition.
It is likely that many food business proprietors are unaware of the potential health consequences of escolar being consumed.
The Food Standards Agency has issued a Food Hazard Warning alerting the public and local authorities to the potential health consequences of people escolar.”
(www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2003/aug/escolarfishmayresultinillness)

And there are lots more caveats issued by others on other sites, though some claim it depends on how well it has been prepared, cooked and quantity consumed.

My goodness! I was clutching my throat, stomach and behind after reading all this the next day! Luckily, nothing untoward happened but I would not be eating escolar fish again unless I’ve had a good discussion with the chef to see if he/she totally understands the caveats associated with this fish.

Let's face it: Most folks in Singapore are still averse to trying anything foreign, especially when it comes from some place like the Middle East. That's why Cafe Le Caire is a good place to start the exploration - it's cheap, the quality is good and the ambience is unintimidating. In fact, this cafe is often filled with people smoking shisha pipes till the wee hours of the morning, particularly on weekends. A great place to hang out with friends on a lazy evening. The upstairs dining room is a little more private, and can even be romantic - especially if you're fortunate enough to get the table for two closest to the windows overlooking Arab Street. The lighting is suitably dim, and the staff unobtrusive - which also means that the wait for your food can be a bit too long sometimes...

However, the food is well worth the wait. The very first time I tried the Vegetarian Kebab with Bokhari Rice, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. The rice is flavoured with a special mix of spices (a hint of cinnamon and something else, I think) plus contains raisins and almonds. The vegetable skewer comes with a generous portion of fresh grilled mushrooms, red and yellow bell peppers, zucchini and sometimes even eggplant. Yums! There's also a side salad with a combination of leaves (red, green, rocket) dressed with sumac and lemon juice plus a portion of tahini dip (sesame seeds pureed with olive oil and spices). Mmmm, heaven! Even my non-veggy friends couldn't stop raving about it. :)

The Falafel Sandwich is quite a treat too: Chickpea and fava bean patties within pita bread pockets with tahini sauce, lettuce leaves and tomatoes. The accompaniment is normally a generous serving of French fries, but one can request a salad instead. The portion is satisfying as the patties are quite filling.

If you come as a group, it's a good idea to order a couple of the appetisers, including the refreshing Middle Eastern salad of chopped parsley, cucumber, tomatoes and onions in olive oil. My non-vegetarian friends also love the fish kebab, the meatballs in tomato gravy and the lamb kebab.

For the sweet-toothed, the Bakhlava (a popular Middle Eastern dessert) needs a lot of work - when you've had the real thing, nothing else compares - but the milk pudding is not bad. The banana split is the safest bet plus comes in a hearty portion.

Service is slow but always courteous and even charming. :)

I keep going back to this place coz I love the flavours here. I've tried various Turkish, Lebanese and Persian restaurants / cafes, but they're just not as great when it comes to the quality or the vegetarian options. Besides, the Lebanese place in Holland Village is overwhelmingly garlicky. Ugh! :(