Upstairs El Gouna
Upstairs El Gouna offers an extensive & diverse range of elegant cuisine. With more than 10 years’ experience they have perfected the art of ‘fine dining’.
As it was Mother’s Day and I was lucky enough to have my mother here with me in El Gouna for a few weeks, I really wanted to spoil her so I viewed the recent restaurant reviews on Trip Advisor for guidance. The restaurant that really stood out for me was Upstairs El Gouna. Impressed by the customer comments, I booked a table for mothering Sunday with the expectation of ‘fine dining’ but what we really experienced was beyond culinary Heaven.
We were fortunate enough to meet Bart Verlinden, the Marketing & Event Manager for The Swedish Egyptian Restaurant Company who own Upstairs El Gouna and he kindly allowed us to sample their new menu before it was introduced to the public. We were impressed by this new menu and how it has evolved – it now includes appetising salads, Slow Cooked Camel, an Egyptian dining experience and a unique barbeque to name but a few. The barbeque will serve an extensive range of chargrilled foods including salmon in foil plus a 300g sheesh kebab. We appreciated that the new menu seemed to embrace the diversity of all the cultures residing in El Gouna with a stable Egyptian backbone. We were pleased that the menu was versatile and catered for all dietary requirements and in particular vegetarians. We also learned that all special requests and catering can be met with pleasure. The new menu will be available to enjoy from April.
We started our meal with a complimentary vegetarian quiche & garlic bread and our attentive waiter informed us that all the breads and pastries are made at their own bakery at Ancient Sands. We could certainly tell that the products were freshly baked that day. Following this, for our starter we enjoyed the Home Smoked Salmon (55 le) and the Chicken Liver Parfait (55 le). The salmon was smoked to perfection & the parfait was smooth and served with freshly baked bread. We then received a tangy Lemon Sorbet that tickled our taste buds and cleared our pallets ready for our main course.
After great deliberation, everything sounded so delightful, we finally chose our main course. My mother indulged in a succulent 200g Prime Beef Fillet with a red wine sauce, season vegetables, roast potatoes and béarnaise sauce (149 le). I thoroughly enjoyed the Escalope “Viennoise”, breaded veal fillet which was served with sauté vegetables, roast potatoes with bacon, onions and topped with garlic butter (125 le).
The desert choice was dreamy and sounded too good to refuse so we didn’t! The Chocolate Fondant was served hot and when cut into the warm velvety chocolate centre oozed out to blend with the vanilla ice cream, the contrast of hot & cold was perfect (60 le). The Cheese Cake was served with a sweet mixed berry sauce, double cream and pistachio crumble and was like no other we had ever tasted (55 le).
They have an extensive wine menu and the knowledgeable staff were able to recommend particular wines to complement our meal choices. There is even one wall decorated with exquisite wine bottles which are cleverly used to spell out Upstairs, a lovely touch to the already elegant décor. They have a stylish range of both indoor and outdoor seating making it the perfect all year round dining location.
Last year Upstairs El Gouna celebrated their 10th anniversary and this year I noticed that they are rewarding themselves and their customers with new furniture and the spectacular new menu, well deserved for all.
I can truly say this was a magical evening made even better by the wonderful service and live music. The live music added to the classic surroundings and the service could not have been improved, our waiter was unobtrusive and met our every need, his presence was friendly and supportive.
My mother was suitable impressed and pampered with this Mother’s Day surprise and we are certainly looking forward to our next opportunity to visit Upstairs El Gouna again and sample more of their culinary delights.
