There would be no Christmas menu on this night which was just fine with us as we weren't all that hungry after spending a long day running around the city.
My first impression of Filini was a good one. The restaurant was spacious with a modern chic design that evokes a sense of comfort, which was rather difficult to find in Cairo. But that good impression didn't last very long. There were about 2-3 tables of customers ahead of us and by the time we finished ordering, 6-8 other tables have been filled so the place was about half full. For whatever reason, the staff suddenly looked overwhelmed (by the number of customers) and the service seemed to have completely stalled as if they've never seen as many customers before. At the end, it took almost an hour for our first dish to arrive.
First up for us were roasted prawns with tomato, garlic, olive oil and rocket leaves. Some of the prawns were just semi-cooked but hell, we didn't care. We were too hungry to wait any longer. But to the defense of the kitchen staff, I thought the seasoning was actually pretty good; just that a few of the prawns were badly under-cooked. That's all!
Seafood risotto with local prawns, white fish and squid was next. This was pretty bland. The risotto wasn't creamy enough and those white fish fillets, well let's not talk about them.
By the time we saw this salad of seared squid, our dinner has almost hit the 2-hour mark. Everyone including me was kind of napping so we just wanted to get this out of the way and go back to our respective rooms.
This was seriously good though. The squid was nicely marinated with chili, olive oil and garlic and they were some of the biggest squid I've ever seen. Very meaty and full of flavors. Easily the best dish of the evening.
Apart from asking for the bill, some of us started chanting "Merry Christmas". Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that!
Back to this meal for a moment. I thought it has exceeded my expectation coz I had very low (if any) expectation coming in. Service was very slow to start but as soon as they have warmed up, the pace was acceptable. It was a shame we didn't get to sample more dishes.
Food Rating: 4.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: G/F Radisson Blu Cairo, Abdel Hamid Badawi, St Heliopolis, Cairo Governorate 11787, Egypt
Tel: +20 2 2696-5656
Website: www.radissonblu.com/en/hotel-cairoheliopolis
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