Seesa

Ahmed Abdel Aziz, of Seesa – which began as a cart in Ibrahimieh in 1960 – agrees that the difference between Cairo and Alexandria liver is that in Cairo they don’t slice it finely, and they toss it in flour and bran before frying it. All Alexandrians (even if they originally came from the countryside or Upper Egypt) agree that kebda Iskandarani has to be cut into small slices, and its ingredients are thyme, cumin, chili, green pepper and lemon. Alexandrians like it spicy, like their ful Iskandarani! Here’s a few tips from Ahmed: heat the oil, throw in the thyme and cumin with some water, so they don’t become tough and burnt by the time the liver cooks. Add the liver (if you add the cumin and thyme to the liver first, it won’t be as tasty). Only add the lemon as you’re about to eat.

Ahmed has two memories from the “old days”. “We used to smell flowers, and now we smell garbage and can do nothing about it,” he exclaims, pointing to the garbage can outside his shop. The other memory is that his father used to cut the fino loaf into two halves. Now the loaf is too small and they just cut off the two edges to make it look like it used to in the past. Their clients are mainly youths but they too have had their share of famous stars: Mohamed Heneidi, Ahmed el Sakka and Iman el Bahr Darwish.