Being able to order food from home has been very convenient during the pandemic, and getting to try new and ethnic foods has also become a new hobby of mine. Finding good quality and inexpensive food can sometimes be a hassle, but I have found a new favorite restaurant that brings affordable and delicious ethnic food to the table.
Madina Cuisine is an excellent restaurant with African and Middle Eastern foods with generous flavor. It is a family-owned business located on 13th ave. S Fargo. The business owner, Madina, personally states on the restaurant’s review page, “this is a family owned business, where food is my passion. The recipes that I’m serving have been past down from generation to generation.” Every review on the website was great and her restaurant is given 4.6 stars, and even was labeled as great food for if you are picky, but my family and I decided to try it out for ourselves.
We ordered the food from home and then picked it up from the restaurant. Madina was very kind and funny and even gave my dad and I free tea. I am down for all kinds of new flavors, and I ordered the curry chicken with basmati rice and it was delicious. Each entree and specialty is served with rice and a side salad with salad dressings. She even adds a signature spicy sauce with the side salad sometimes. Not only does the food look great, but it’s really plentiful and is affordable.
When I tried the basmati rice, I never thought about eating any other rice again. It was very flavorful and had different colors from the spices. It was very vibrant and complemented with the delicious and tender curry chicken. The curry chicken had a subtle but fantastic smokey flavor with an incredible tang of curry and fresh components from the cilantro garnish, and was cut up into bite-sized pieces and layed down on top of the rice, and it was perfect how some of the top layers of rice soaked up some of the curry flavor in the chicken.
After the savory meal, I tried Madina’s baklava for some sweetness. Considering I’m not vastly familiar with Middle Eastern flavors, my expectations for baklava were fair, but they were met. The baklava had a perfectly crispy layer on top with some honey drizzle. It seemed like it had a variety of different nuts, but the flavor and crunch of the pistachios stood out to me the most.
Overall, Madina’s is even better than I can describe it in words. With the friendly service, great food, and affordable prices, I’m definitely coming back for seconds! I give Madina Cuisine 5 Spartan heads.