One thing that I could never get used to in the Middle East is how late people go out and stay out, especially on a ‘school night’. Being up at 5.30am for my full-time job simply means I can’t go for dinner at 9pm as at that time I’m usually crawling into bed. I have often excused myself from events it’s getting too late or, in some cases declined invites when the party started at 11pm – this must make me sound really old but unless I get a good 8hrs sleep I just can’t function (I have no idea how parents are up with children throughout the night and arrive in work bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!). I have lost count of the times I’ve arrived for dinner at 7pm to an empty restaurant only for it to be packed by the time I’m leaving at 9pm and, from what I’ve seen so far, Egypt is no exception to this love of nocturnal living. When we arrived for dinner at Sakura I received a ‘are you sure we’re in the right place?’ look from Greg and I reminded him it was only 6.30pm – but at least we had the pick of the tables! Located in City Square, Sakura is a Japanese restaurant with a large outdoor terrace and inside seating with a live cooking station. We chose to sit outside and we were brought the menus which is mostly made up of sushi, sashimi and teppanyaki.

We decided to share a few plates of sushi and a beef teppanyaki with rice. Our order was taken quickly and Hani our server had a quick chat with us about where we were from and told us a little about the restaurant. He was really friendly and throughout our meal the service was good.
All of our dishes arrived within a few minutes of each other which was fine with us and the food was well presented. The Ebi Tempura was an absolute winner for us, the Tempura batter was very light and crispy and the prawns were big and juicy. 

Our sushi order consisted of Crispy California Rolls and Salmon Skin Maki. I found the California Rolls to be a little bland and I’d look to order something different next time but the Salmon Skin Maki was a great mix of textures. From the soft rice to crunchy skin and a good kick of heat from the spicy sauce.

The beef teppanyaki was rather forgettable. The meat was tender but it wasn’t particularly warm or flavoursome. Again, I probably wouldn’t order this again. There was nothing wrong with it but I’d stick to the sushi.

After finishing these dishes we asked for another look at the menu as we felt we could manage a little more sushi. Having really enjoyed the Ebi Tempura we chose the Shrimp Tempura Roll  which was a great decision. Crunchy Tempura and soft juicy shrimp with creamy avocado, they disappeared from the plate very quickly!

As predicted as we were finishing our meal it was starting to get busier, we asked for the bill and headed off next door to Costa for coffee and cakeaway to have at home in our pjs!

Our meal cost just over 450LE which was reasonable value, the teppanyaki was significantly pricier than the sushi. We’ll definitely come back and I know we’ll be ordering the Ebi Tempura and Tempura Shrimp Roll.