Prince of Egypt
135 Danforth Avenue
416-463-2228
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and juice and Egyptian coffee: $68
As a die-hard west-end girl, I don’t often find myself wandering along the Danforth at dinner time looking for someplace to eat. Particularly on a Saturday night. You might find me wandering Queen West, but crossing Yonge Street into bizarro-world isn’t something I do without a lot of pre-planning.
So when we wandered past the empty and forlorn-looking Prince of Egypt one recent Saturday night, we almost kept on going. Like so many people we stopped and read the menu posted in the window and then walked away. But something made me say, “you know, let’s just eat here. It looks good.” And good it was, great even.
We took a seat in the window to watch the people walking past. The room is decorated with Egyptian-style lamps and wall-hangings. In a review last year in NOW, Steven Davey remarked upon what he likened to styrofoam on the walls, and admittedly, it’s kind of weird. My guess is that it’s supposed to resemble the bricks of the pyramids, but I found the odd white walls easy enough to ignore.
We started out with beverages; a mango juice ($3) for the husband, and a karkady ($3.50) for me. Karkady is an Egyptian tea made from hibiscus flowers. It’s bright red and can be served hot or cold. Flavour-wise, it reminds me a lot of rooiboos, although it’s often compared to cranberry juice. It’s a bit tart, but extremely flavourful.
We had trouble deciding between a selection of appetizers that ranged from hummus to grilled cauliflower and stuffed grape leaves ($4.50 each) but finally opted for the baba ganoush. The pita bread was obviously store-bought, but the eggplant dip was bright and fresh tasting, quite possibly the best I’ve ever had.
F
or mains, I had the only vegetarian option on the menu, the Mahshy platter ($14), a collection of stuffed vegetables that included a huge green pepper, tomato, zucchini and dolmas, along with salad. All were delicious, although the stuffing appeared to be the same in all the items, so I ate a lot of rice. This dish is also listed as being “vegan” but comes with tziziki, something that threw me off slightly, and something that vegan customers might want to watch for. The menu also includes a note with this dish that states “all vegetables originated from Egypt”, which provoked the question – these particular vegetables, or vegetables in general? Because while the Egyptians were definitely considered to be the creators of modern agriculture, I am dubious that every vegetable was originally from there – what about bok choy? Also, given that ALL of the items in the Mahshy platter are technically fruit (peppers, tomato, zucchini and grape leaves, that statement seems a little silly. It was all delicious though, and that’s what counts.
Across the table, the husband had the Bamia bil Lahma ($14), a stewed lamb dish with okra and rice. The rice was fluffy and redolent with cardamom. I’m not a fan of lamb and found the dish very strongly-flavoured, but the hungry husband cleaned his plate.
We were going to end our meal there, but the lure of Egyptian coffee demanded that we have dessert. Two tiny cups of dark coffee ($3.75 each), thick as motor-oil and heavy with cardamom were the perfect accompaniment to a slice of Basbousa ($4.50), an Egyptian cake made with semolina, raisins and almonds soaked in a sugar syrup.
The only issue that came up throughout our meal in terms of service was that the server always spoke directly to the hungry husband ("How is everything, sir?"), and not to both of us, which began to weird me out just a bit. This didn’t mar what was polite, professional and attentive service, but I’m generally used to being acknowledged when interacting with the person serving my food.
Despite the few oddities, I would definitely return to Prince of Egypt, for the food was superb and reasonably priced. Next time I won’t just wander by, but will make it a destination.
