Carlos' Bar
Roshdi, Mostafa Kamil We Bolkly, Sidi Gaber, Alexandria, Egypt
About
Formerly the Portuguese General Association, this is now the main watering hole for the expatriate community. It's in the expensive residential area of Roushdy where the consulates and the richest Alexandrines tend to be. In the summer the bar is outside. It has a pleasant patio garden area with plenty of room to mill around and the speakers are rigged up outside to play quite bad music2. In winter people go inside. Downstairs is a generic mock English pub set-up, but with nice comfy chairs and a pool room with extra tables. At the time of writing they are running a disco upstairs on Thursday nights. It's not a bad place to spend an evening, and is the biggest bar in Alexandria. It is, inevitably, full of drunken expats doing drunken things, but if that kind of thing doesn't upset you too much, or actually seems right up your street, then off you go. Ask a taxi driver for Kaffer Abduh and he should take you to a street with a shop selling fruit and various other things on the corner. Get out there and walk up the street away from the main road. Take the first right and you'll find some iron gates on your left. There's no sign but in summer you can hear music from behind them. You have to ring the bell. It costs five Egyptian Pounds (LE) to get in and 45LE for a bar card of five drinks. They serve Egyptian red and white wine, Stella Local, Sakara and various spirits. There is food, but it's quite pricey. The steak, priced at 35LE, is not bad though. They also sell alcohol during the holy month of Ramadan.
