Here's how to eat in Alexandria, Egypt
from a friend..
Admittedly Egypt isn't the place to go if you want refined cooking. Go to
Beirut and get rolled over by a Hummer, if you must. But if you can limit
your expectations to some basic essentials – vegetables, fresh fish and lamb
– you might as well enjoy your stay in Egypt. Some travel guides have
already picked out the highlights for Cairo and Alexandria (I can recommend
the Lonely Planet), so I will keep to my very favourite places in Alexandria
.
A true highlight about Alexandria is fresh fish. There is a great
traditional restaurant (simply tables out in the street, no building needed)
next to the Abu l-Abbas mosque. You pick your own fish, crabs, mussels and
lobster and how it's prepared (basically the choice being the oven or the
frying pan, but either way it's olive oil and lemon), get some spicy rice
along with it and if you ask for some mezze (the small Lebanese dippings),
you might as well turn it into a feast (check out the "old-cheese mezze",
gibna 'adima, something you won't get too many places else). Al-Qadoora
opened a dependency in a regular building on the Corniche in the direction
of the citadel (ask for "al-'adoora l-gadida" if your cab driver doesn't
know enough English). In the same direction, a little behind the citadel in
al-Anfushy there are several equally great but bigger fish restaurants, my
favourite of those being "aroosat al-bahr" but "gazirat al-gawahir" is good
as well.
Fuul and Falafel are the country's basic food, unbelievably cheap and sold
in small sandwiches in fast-food places all over the country. A general
rule: if you see a fuul-place crowded with people it's usually fresh, good
and tasty. Three or four small sandwiches (fuul, falafel and egg-plants
(badingaan) for example) can keep you going all day. If you care to sit
down, try the Muhammad Ahmad restaurant in Alexandria's old city centre,
right at the Mahattit ar-Raml station. It sure doesn't look fancy but it's
clean, generally regarded the best fuul in town (and beyond) and the menu is
bilingual.
The next obligatory thing to try is Kushary, an equally cheap mix of
noodles, rice, often peas and always a spicy tomato sauce and roasted
onions. A nice Kushary place is in Safia Zaghloul Street within walking
distance from Mahattit ar-Raml, which is a good place to start by the way,
because right after dinner you can choose between the continental
turn-of-the-century-style cafes right next to the Station or walk to
al-Anfushy, the part of town where cafes are helplessly Egyptian: not too
clean, a few tables out in the street and a grudging waiter serving Shishas
and delicious mocca (called 'ahwa turkey, you don't want to confuse
anybody). For Espresso there is a Brazilian store roasting the beans
old-style and a greek place a little down the road.
For meat it's best to take a cab to one of the new mall-like shopping
centres. There are several chains serving great lamb meat and okay mezze.
You will find a new and expensive espresso-bar with some hot dishes on Salah
Mustafa Street (somewhere between the sections with Safia Zaghloul and El
Nabi Danial, I don't remember exactly), very famous among well-off youths
who look for a lively place to flirt.
I am sure there are much more great places.
