Alexandrians love their seafood and everyone has their favorite restaurants when it comes to feasting on fresh fish. With a picturesque view of the Mediterranean Sea and a reputation for fresh fish, Fish Market is a popular choice for Alexandrians and tourists alike.
Perched on the second floor, with an unobstructed view of the sea, Fish Market has a welcoming atmosphere with a dining room chockfull of customers, an open-air kitchen and a counter packed with fresh fish on ice. Customers pick their fish from the selection and specify their preferred method of cooking.
Back at the table it doesn’t take long for salads (LE 10 each) to arrive. Tomeya and tehina are both favorite appetizers, as is the hummus, but the green salad isn’t anything special. Salads are served with piping hot shami bread. The seafood soup (LE 25) is a must-have, filled with succulent calamari, fish and crab in cream broth lightly seasoned with fresh dill. Unfortunately, there’s little time to enjoy the soup; as the rest of your order will follow quickly. It is nearly impossible to eat an entire meal at Fish Market while it is still warm.
Grilled sea bass (LE 92 per kilo) is doused inside and out with olive oil and lemon, then grilled until its skin is crispy and black. The fish’s flavor is delicate —proof of its freshness — and its texture is perfect. Oven-baked calamari (LE 32) was cooked well; but the sauce’s flavor was rather muddled.
We recommend the grilled shrimp (LE 199 per kilo), if only for presentation; the fried shrimp tends to separate in the process and we were dismayed by the dislodged, deep-fried shrimp heads that arrived on our plate. The shrimp is tasty but cools quickly and loses some of its appeal with the heat. Boiled crabs are rather difficult to eat without any tools; so you may have to forfeit the claws and eat only the sweet back fin.
Fish Market is definitely on the pricier side of Alexandrian seafood restaurants, but if you want a picturesque and clean location, it is definitely a good dining option.
Best bit
Fish Market’s seafood soup is delectable and the restaurant has a prime Alexandrian location.
Worst bit
All the food arriving at the same time makes it difficult to savor your meal before it gets cold.
360 Tip
Arrive just before sunset to dine while watching as night settles over the city
Address: Corniche Road, next to the Scout Club, Chicken Tikka and Grand Café, Bahari, Alexandria , Egypt
Telephone: 03-480-5114
This article was contributed to Daily News Egypt by Cairo360 www.cairo360.com
