Il Loft

I came to Il Loft with high expectations after viewing the menu online. The atmosphere of the small restaurant is quite pleasing: nice soft lighting, beautiful chairs and tables, and good light bulbs. The kitchen is open to show the chefs at work. The menu is great, to the extent that I struggled to pick! I noticed that the waitress serving us was a bit unfamiliar with the menu - although she could have been new. For example, when I asked for the gorgonzola gnocchi, she asked me if I meant 'white sauce'. Nevertheless, the service was very fast, and the food seemed generally fresh. We ordered the bruschetta, chicken katsu, seafood risotto, and the gorgonzola gnocchi.

The bruschetta was my favorite item of the night. The bread was crisp and warm, and the tomatoes were well seasoned with some sort of pesto and a tasteful grating of parmesan cheese as well. The chicken katsu were extremely crispy, and I loved the panko crust, however the strips were too large to dip them into the honey mustard dipping sauce. I also did not really enjoy the combination of the chicken and the honey mustard.

I was extremely disappointed by the gnocchi. The sauce was extremely heavy and the gnocchi was clearly store-bought. On paper, the idea of adding apricots and nuts to a gorgonzola sauce seemed like a great combination, however I felt that the taste of the apricots overpowered and clashed with the sauce. This dish left me with a massive stomach ache, unable to eat a dessert. The risotto was also quite bad; the arborio rice was overcooked and the sauce was poorly flavored. It was also quite heavy. This, too could not be finished.

Overall, this dish costed about LE 650, which is slightly overpriced and not a fair price for a very disappointing result. I would advise a change to ingredients and portions as well as a tweak to some of the menu items to improve the overall experience.