We make our own spits
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 them before they reach the grill.
Family business · Alexanderpolder
A lighthouse,
a spit, 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 spit matters
When you order a pita here, the meat is carved off a turning spit 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.