Another Greek establishment was opened in town around 1900, called Hamos. Dimitri Hamos came from his island in Greece to Alexandria with only one piece of luggage: a wooden trunk. He found work in a Greek bakery in rue de France where the owner taught him the secrets of the trade. Eventually Dimitri bought him out. Rue de France was one of the early streets branching out from the Ottoman town inhabited by foreigners, hence its name. Dimitri got married and had four sons.

A couple of years later, Dimitri moved the business from rue de France to rue Prince Ibrahim, on the tram station of Ibrahimieh. The streets weren’t paved and the tram rails were laid in the middle of the sand dunes. Although the area was relatively uninhabited, he was smart enough to realize that here there would be less competition than in the city center. Soon, Ibrahimieh would be heavily populated with Greeks. His sons worked with him in the bakery.

After his death in 1927, the bakery declined slightly. It was later on taken over by his sons, and later on in the fifties by his son Nicola, with his wife Alexandra and their son Dimitri. Twenty years later Dimitri, wishing to expand and introduce a new line of pastry, asked the renowned chef Yorgho Margellos to join the team. Chef Yorgo remained with Hamos until he passed away. Recipes of Chef Luigi Lozar, who later worked with Hamos, added to the success of the bakery.

Dimitri died childless. His sister Photini (Nitso) Issa-Hamos, mother of Marianne and Lillian, inherited the business. Eventually, Lillian took over after the death of Chef Luigi Lozar. She now runs “Alexandra Hamos” successfully, dividing her time between Alexandria and Montreal where she had moved years before deciding to continue the family pastry business, and where her husband and two sons live.

The business could not continue in the old location in Ibrahimieh. Encouraged and supported by her husband Karim Jbeili, Lillian bought a new venue in the same area at 140 Omar Lotfy, on the tram in Sporting el Soghra, and called it after her grandmother “Alexandra Hamos”, thus keeping the family name and tradition alive.

The team at Alexandra Hamos follows the rules established by Chef Yorgo. Products are made with fresh ingredients with no additives or substitutes added, thus preserving the traditional taste of pastries and bakeries. Recipes are produced with love and care, offering a great variety of fresh bakeries, salaisons, cakes, chocolates and candies. The famous Saint-Honoré, Cassata and Mille-Feuilles stand next to newcomers such as doughnuts and Danish pastries. Specialties like Vassilopita, finikia, kourabyedes and tsourekakia are available for Christmas, and you can order boiled colored eggs, chocolate eggs and Tsourekia (brioches) for Easter. Alexandra Hamos is also renowned for its delicious products for Coptic fasting.

A woman walked in and asked for an engagement cake for her daughter exactly like the one she got from Hamos when she herself got engaged!