Fish Dinner

 Let's take a break from the serious subject matter of this blog the past few posts and discuss something a little more lighthearted... like fish.

Yum! Fish!

Fresh from the Mediterranean, these little suckers are caught every morning by fishermen in delightful fishing outfits and long fishing poles, sitting on the rocks right next to the beach or out in their teeny canoe sized boats in the middle of the raging sea. A few days ago, while I was crossing underneath the Corniche, the tallest, skinniest fisherman I had ever seen was walking in front of me. He was wearing tight, black wet-suit bottoms, flip flops with black socks, and a striped grey and green hoodie (he was wearing the hood as well) and of course, the obligatory cigarette in his left hand, and despite his height, he seemed to be waddling like a penguin under the tunnel until he grabbed his bag of fishing supplies and was off to battle with the morning's catch.

Alex is known for its fresh seafood, and although I am usually a fish-free vegetarian in my real life, I realized quickly here that if I were to survive without dying of malnutrition, I was going to have to start eating fish.

So with my guest, Talia, I decided it was time to really partake in what this city has to offer.

Nada (my roommate) told us of this really sha3bi (popular Egyptian) fish place called Hoda el Gondol, right near the university in the neighborhood of Azarita. Described in Lonely Planet as a place offering "fresh and ridiculously cheap seafood... no menu and little English is spoken... just turn up, point to the trays of fresh fish lining the downstairs display and find yourself a seat. It's located down an unmarked alley; ask for directions as everyone knows it by name." Sure enough, when we hopped in a cab and said "Hoda el Gondol," the driver knew exactly where to take us.



As described in Lonely Planet, we walked down an unmarked alley and found ourselves facing massive trays of fish. On our right, the fried ones, right in front of us, the grilled filets and whole fishes, and to our left, the shrimp and clams. Immediately, the men working there offered us samplings of the shrimp, clams, and fried calamari (my first time trying clams and calamari) and wow! It's delicious. Mae said it tasted like KFC- fried goodness.








So we ask them to assemble us two mix trays and then head upstairs. Each plate (costing 35 pounds and coming with a soda, rice, bread, tehina and salad) contained a grilled whole fish, a fried filet, shrimp, fried calamari, and clams. They also brought us some spicey fish soup, but I didn't like that at all.

Favorites (in order):
Fried filet and calamari (but I think I just like fried foods)
Shrimp
Grilled fish
Clams

The rice and salads were also quite good.

All in all, I would rate this restaurant pretty highly, but recommend going for lunch when the fish is a little fresher.