International food blog

Friday, February 7, 2014

EGYPTIAN: Lunch at Cleopatra's Restaurant in Greensboro, NC - Tasty and a Bargain!

Decor

Buffet

Desserts and Beverages

What I had!!

Iced tea, tomato soup and house salad

The tomato soup is not like any tomato soup I have ever had. Delicious. (not on menu link I have attached) The Cleopatra Salad with the house dressing (lemony) is very good! This one had pickled turnips on it!!

Restaurant description:

Fresh crisp romaine hearts, tomatoes, sweet pepper, cucumber, red onion, black olives and crumbled feta cheese with our traditional house dressing.

Buffet Plate $8.99 (varies daily because food is cooked fresh every day). This one had

Lamb/Beef Shawerma (Tender slices of lamb and beef shaved off rotating slow broiler stack of stacked up chicken marinated with onion, garlic and spices)
Rice With Vermicelli
and Grilled Veggies
Chicken Wings
Chicken Kabab

Pita baked fresh every day!! $.50 for this batch.

I ordered a Side Gaber Konafa (not included in Buffet Price) (Thin hair dough baked with a layer of nuts dripped in honey) The pink dessert in the Photo below.

http://www.cleopatrasrestaurant.com/#/Home/

ORIENTAL: Homemade ponzu sauce experimentation to lower sodium

THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION RECOMMENDS MAXIMUM 1500 MG OF SODIUM PER DAY. SAYS THAT 97% OF AMERICAN CHILDREN AND ADULTS EAT TOO MUCH SODIUM.

LINK TO THE SALTY SIX FOOD NO-NO'S

Back to my Experiment.

Fact One: Kikkoman's Ponzu sauce has 400 grams of sodium per TBSP.

Fact Two: Dr. told me to lower sodium intake so I experimented this morning.

Fact Three: Tried this recipe first using Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce rather than regular soy sauce from Food.com

http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-ponzu-sauce-487741

Misleading: Makes 10.1947 oz not 1 cup. Says on the recipe that would be 5555 grams of sodium per 10 oz. which would translate to 555 grams of sodium (use regular soy sauce and not less sodium). So if you use 3 TBSP which is what I use that would be 1667 grams of sodium per serving. I made the recipe with less sodium soy sauce and 3 TBSP would be 904.4 grams of sodium saving 295.6 grams of sodium.

Kikkoman's Ponzu sauce is 1200 grams of sodium for 3 TBSP.

Fact Four: Tried this recipe second with Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce from MyRecipes.com

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/ponzu-sauce-10000001599636/

Fact Five: This recipe already used Less Sodium Soy Sauce so I didn't change anything!! 801 grams of sodium per three TBSP. Saving 399 grams of sodium.

THE WINNER (for me) IS MY RECIPES RECIPE WITH SAVING SODIUM AND IT TASTES MUCH MORE LIKE THE KIKKOMAN WITH LESS SODIUM (not overpowering sodium taste if that is the taste you want). There are hundreds of ponzu recipes out there. This one is easy. To do more authentic you need food items purchased in an oriental shop.