We make our own shawarma
Almost every grillroom in the Netherlands buys shawarma as a ready-made frozen cone. We build ours by hand, with our own spice mix, and marinate it before it reaches the grill.
Family business · Alexanderpolder
A lighthouse,
a rotisserie, a family
We are named after the Egyptian port city. The lighthouse that once stood there ran on an open fire. For a grillroom, that felt about right.
Everything over fire
Mixed grill, adana, lamb chops, spare ribs, chicken. A fryer would be faster and easier to clean, but a lamb chop out of a fryer is not a lamb chop.
The same faces
Alexandria is run by one Egyptian family, not a rotating shift. It is why the word that keeps coming back in our reviews is “warm”.
The short version
Why the rotisserie matters
When you order a pita here, the meat is carved off the turning rotisserie at that moment, not scooped from a tray that has been sitting under a heat lamp since five o'clock. You get edges that caramelised a few seconds ago.
It costs time that never shows up on a receipt. It is also the entire difference between “shawarma” and shawarma.
Egyptian, in east Rotterdam
The menu shows where we come from. Next to the Dutch classics (kapsalon, pita shawarma, the big platter) you will find adana kebab, merguez and our pizza Cairo. And because Alexanderpolder is a neighbourhood where everyone lives, there is a full plant-based line too.
We are not a fine-dining restaurant and we do not pretend to be. This is a grillroom on a square in east Rotterdam where ten euros buys a very good meal. That is the whole plan.
Order from us, not through someone else
Delivery apps take a large cut. Order direct and that cut becomes your 10% discount instead.