It was obvious from my hesitant pronunciation of “okrashka with kvas” that I am not Russian, and the waiter at Dahab’s Red Cat restaurant looked concerned. “Have you ever tried kvas?” he asked, his accented English hinting that Russian was his native language.
His concern was that while Russians love this fermented drink, foreigners sometimes do not — so he brought each of us a complimentary glass to try.

Given Egypt’s growing popularity am-ong Russian tourists — about 2 million of whom visited in 2009, according to Tourism Ministry figures — it’s not really a surprise that Dahab finally has its first Russian restaurant.

What is a refreshing surprise is that the Red Cat, set right on the waterfront, has skipped the seaside kitcsh and the hard-sell restaurant touts in favor of simple yet authentic cuisine.

And that starts with kvas, a mildly fizzy beverage made from fermented rye bread — in this case, a black rye bread, judging from the coffee-like color and deep earthy tones.

While our waiter warned us that kvas has only a tiny bit of alcohol, perhaps 1%, a Russian colleague later explained to me that this drink is considered the “Russian cola” and the beverage of choice before Pepsi and Coke entered the then-Soviet market.

Kvas is also the base for the cold vegetable soup called okrashka (LE 35), forming a rich broth for bits of beef, cucumber, potato, radishes and greens.

The Red Cat serves a healthy portion that easily stands alone as a hearty yet light lunch — a perfect meal between dives.

My companion ordered the vegetable cakes (LE 40), essentially a hash brown of zucchini, potato, carrot and parmesan cheese, with sour cream on the side for dressing.

Served hot just seconds off the skillet, these cakes are entree-sized but can get a hungry group started off right.

Another companion went straight for the beef stroganoff (LE 90), small strips of beef over noodles with mashed potatoes and pickled vegetables on the side.

Many recipes use a thick sour cream sauce with onions and mushrooms, but the Red Cat chef makes this dressing lighter, almost more au jus with sour cream.

My next course was Pelmini Siberian (LE 30), which turned out to be small dumplings filled with minced beef and lamb — identical to what I know as the Polish pirogi.

(The Red Cat menu describes a pirogi as a “big Russian or Ukrainian pie made from short crust pastry.”) Served with a side of sour cream and no other dressing, the pelmini was actually a bit bland and the portion smaller than expected, about 6–8 pieces.

Paired with the large bowl of zesty okrashka, however, the pelmini was the perfect complement in both size and taste.

Keeping with my “order something I’ve never heard of” approach, I chose sweet sirniki (LE 25) for dessert.

The medallion-size cakes of savory cottage cheese are lightly fried in butter and have the consistency of a dense cheese cake. Drizzled maple syrup providing the “sweet” part of the dish, the dessert is accented by a side of the sour cream clearly beloved by the Russian palate.

Genuinely interested in sharing his culinary heritage, our waiter explained that Russians normally use honey instead of maple syrup, but claimed they could not find suitable honey for the Dahab dish.

Perhaps Russian honey does taste different, but I would have liked to try it with local honey.

Compared to the ever-increasing glitz of the restaurant row north of Dahab’s bridge, the Red Cat is not fancy in its menu or decor — offering a refreshing change of pace and change of taste. et

Red Cat
South Dahab, on the promenade between the Police Station and the Nabatean port archeology site
Tel: +2 (010) 9114-0113
Open 2-10pm, set menu (LE 50) from 2-6pm
Moderate.