Date Night?

Today we went out for dinner at Lucille’s – who serve the bets burgers in Cairo – after our appointment with Dr Cherif.  We actually did the same last week when Fabs was visiting and as we left the clinic it turned out that we’d both been thinking about doing the same again!

It was a real treat to go again, and as we walked there we were questioning why we didn’t start this routine earlier in the pregnancy!  We’ve always loved Lucille’s and had a little routine of going along, but finding we had to wait for a table and so grabbing a drink in the bar of Villa 55 opposite.  This was for the (original) Road 9 branch, but last year they opened a new branch on Nasr Street.  The new branch is done up pretty much the same as the original, but it has a fair bit more room, is a bit lighter and is a lot quieter, so we’ve begun to prefer it.

We try to go out for dinner once a week depending on what we fancy eating and how we’re feeling, so this isn’t really a date night; just a little treat (although dinner out will turn in to a big treat in a few weeks we expect!).  But it suddenly feels like a romantic date night when all the lights go out in the restaurant!

“Shukran Morsi” is the first thing we hear from the waiter.  A reference to the fact that rolling black outs have been credited to Morsi’s lack of control over the country, rather than simply the high demand this summer on power.  Although we wonder if it has something to do with the vast number of high wattage bulbs that are used by the shop one block down that we visited last week.  Fabs was so amazed by the amount of light emitting from its windows that she needed to take a photo!

There is a small glow from the street outside which is enough to see each other across the table and that the other couple having dinner have their mobile phone torch on.  The waiter soon comes out with two emergency lights that he sets up opposite the two tables shining light towards us.  It’s not quite a candle-lit dinner, but close enough!