Sayadeya takes its name from the sayyad, the fisherman. Onions are fried until they colour the rice, and the rice is cooked in a stock made from the fish’s own head and bones, so that one catch becomes a whole meal. It belongs to the Mediterranean coast, not to the Nile.
The morning begins where fish is sold, in the old quarter by the harbours around Anfushi. That map has changed: the Raquda Foundation documented the markets of El-Medan and El-Halaqa ahead of their demolition. Which market is trading, and who cooks what you choose, will be confirmed on the ground before this is offered.
At the northern end of Anfushi, where it meets the sea, wooden boats are still built in the open, and small workshops carve their helms and fittings. The fish and the boats that bring it in are one walk.
Egypt’s food tours are sold almost entirely in Cairo. Alexandria eats from a different water.
How it could run
A proposed shape, confirmed with you when it is arranged.
- Start early where the day’s fish is sold.
- Walk to the Anfushi boatyards, among wooden hulls in their frames.
- Choose fish and have it cooked, with sayadeya, where the fishermen eat.
- Finish on the Corniche below the Qaitbay citadel.
