Sally Neves and Mohamed Tawfik are the husband-and-wife duo behind Sincero, a new pizzeria in Alexandria that specialises in sourdough pizza and a rustic, feel-at-home vibe.

The pair were colleagues at Sourdough, a bakery in Alexandria, before they fell in love and got married. “My job was to come in at 2 AM to prepare everything,” says Mohamed, “and my day was supposed to end at 10 AM. But I found myself staying until Sally finished work, not wanting to leave.”

“One day we were having pizza together,” Sally continues. “But because I’ve had a gastric sleeve, it hurts my stomach if I eat more than one or two slices of pizza. Then Mohamed suggested, ‘Why don’t I make a sourdough pizza for you?’”

They had long wanted to open up a place of their own and to begin working for themselves. While they’d brainstormed many ideas for what sort of restaurant to open, nothing stuck. When Mohamed made the pizza for Sally, she thought, “No one else is making sourdough pizza. Why don’t we make this our product?” “When you make pizza with sourdough it becomes easier to digest, especially for people with stomach problems or gallbladder problems, like me," Sally explains. "It feels lighter and has an airy texture to it. You won’t feel bloated after the meal, and you won’t feel guilty either.”

With the idea in place, they found a location to begin building their business together by hand. With the help of friends, they painted the walls, installed the décor, built the tables and chairs, and wired the electricity. “Those who knew us said it felt like there was a piece of our soul in the place," they say. "And we really liked that. We wanted the customer to enter and find the place cosy and home-like, and feel as though they’re in their own kitchen.”

But the real star of Sincero is their pizza. “We wanted to make a menu you wouldn’t find elsewhere. At the same time, the usual things that you would find elsewhere, you won’t find here,” Sally explains.

Instead of typical choices like chicken ranch and pepperoni, Sincero offers pizzas such as Azul. “Azul is probably our best seller. It’s made with blue cheese sauce, grilled chicken, fresh mushrooms, and fresh mozzarella. But our personal favourite,” Sally adds, “is Bella Simon.” Made with labneh, smoked salmon, dill, and slices of lemon, Bella Simon feels even lighter than their other sourdough pizzas. Part of the reason behind this is also the freshness of their ingredients.“We’re very picky about our ingredients. We use only premium quality flour and olive oil, and fresh mozzarella. The beef and the shrimp we use is balady. We don’t use any processed meat or non-natural cheese," says Sally. "Trust me, the customer can tell the difference. And better ingredients give you more space to innovate in menu engineering.”

For Sally and Mohamed, part of the joy of owning their own place is in being able to surprise their customer with what a pizza could be. “A lot of our customers are surprised to see our toppings, because they can’t imagine how it would go on a pizza. That’s part of the reason we opened this place. We wanted to innovate with new creations.”Since it opened last October, Sincero has been entirely a husband-and-wife operation. Although the restaurant’s opening hours are from 2 PM to midnight, preparation work starts in the morning. “Our sourdough starter is completely homemade. It has been alive since even before Sincero opened, and have to feed it every night before going home. She’s like our daughter,” Sally says. “We call her Rizk.”

As for what’s next, “We have lots of ideas, but we don’t want to rush things," Sally shares. "We want to add fresh pasta to the menu. We’re also hoping to add new items for Christmas and for Ramadan. The most important thing, however, is to maintain the quality of what we already have.”