What to Eat in Alexandria: Seafood, Street Food and Sweets

What to eat in Alexandria: fresh seafood, liver sandwiches, foul and falafel, feteer, and the sweets of its historic patisseries. A practical first-timer's list.

In Alexandria, eat seafood by the harbour, Alexandrian-style liver sandwiches, foul and taameya for breakfast, and finish with pastry and coffee at a historic patisserie. The city's food mixes Egyptian street cooking with the Greek, Italian and Levantine influences of its cosmopolitan past.

Seafood

Alexandria is a sea city, and many restaurants let you choose your fish by weight and how it is cooked: grilled, fried, or baked in a clay pot. Sayadeya, fish cooked with caramelised onion rice, is a local signature. Calamari, shrimp and crab are everywhere along the Corniche.

Street food

Kebda eskandarani, liver fried with garlic, chilli and green pepper in a small bread roll, is the city's best-known sandwich. Sausage sandwiches, sogo'o, are its spicy companion. For breakfast, foul medames and taameya, Egypt's fava bean falafel, are cheap and filling.

Breads and pies

Feteer meshaltet, a flaky layered pastry, is eaten with honey and cheese or filled savoury. Hawawshi, spiced minced meat baked in bread, is a favourite lunch.

Sweets and coffee

Alexandria's patisseries carry a century of Greek and French pastry. Try a mille-feuille, éclairs, baklava, galaktoboureko and a Greek coffee downtown. In summer, the Corniche is lined with ice-cream counters. During Ramadan, look for kunafa and qatayef.

Fish by the harbour, liver by the station, pastry by the square.

End at Délices

Finish your day at 46 Saad Zaghloul Street, Raml Station, open daily 8 AM – 1 AM. Ordering for a group? Call +20 3 486 1432.