Guest Blog post by: Haseena
Last Updated: 24 October 2022
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article do not represent the views of Halaal Travels. These recommendations are based on our guest blogger’s experiences and not on the experiences of any Halaal Travels team members. These experiences might not be reflective of your personal preferences. This post is provided as a guide. It is highly recommended that you do your own research prior to using any of the information provided in this article.
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Food from Aaliyah Apa
Food options in Madinah. By the time we got to Madinah we really felt for home type food. A few people had recommended Aaliyah Apa. You can send her a WhatsApp, she will send you her menu for the next day. You then choose lunch or supper delivery – we opted for lunch (delivered around 1:30pm) and had this on most days. A single portion feeds 2 people, and she usually has a rice dish and a curry of sorts on the menu each day.
Her contact details : +966557028132
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Zaitoon
Zaitoon is a new restaurant in Taiba centre – top floor, which was the other place we ate alot at. The food is really good – those shawarmas make for a lovely light meal (10 riyals) and my kids loved the mocktails and fresh juices. We tried the burgers, the broast chicken, chicken tikka and tandoori chicken – we were working through the menu. Everything is really good. Very much like our South African type restaurants.
There’s also Hardee’s and KFC in Taiba centre – always a fave with the kids.
Behind Taiba centre there’s 2 little stores – Karak and the one next to it (see the name in the reel) and they make lovely falafel wraps and hot chips. My youngest enjoyed their cheese fries.
Fresh juice and wraps/shawarmas from the store also on the road behind the haram.
We enjoyed the Dunkin Donuts for dessert, the iced coffee was good but for me the store next to it (Barns) made one of the best blended coffees I have ever had – it’s a must try if you’re a coffee fan like me.
Al Anwar Movenpick
Another nice cafe and coffee store in Al Anwar Movenpick on the first floor is Ekla which is newly opened. I enjoyed the coffee and we had the pizzas and shawarmas from there as well.
We also enjoyed the usual Bin Dawood finds – all those croissants (try the Zaatar one!) the Galaxy ice creams and chocolates as well as those cakes paired with Arabic coffee made for good snacks in between meals. Not forgetting all those bugles, lays and pringles chips we don’t get here (that last bin Dawood shopping trip before leaving for home fills a whole bag with “things we don’t get in South Africa”.
The best meal you will have….
The best meal you will have is the Laban, dates, dukkah and bread with zam zam especially in the haram.
About the author: Haseena is a food blogger, recipe developer and a food and lifestyle content creator on Instagram. She is also an OT,a wife and a mum. If you would like to get in touch with Haseena please view her Instagram account.