Aladdin Mediterranean Restaurant And Catering

With many years of the bouquet, corporate catering, and restaurant experience, the Aladdin Mediterranean Restaurant has expertise in providing our services for your corporate meeting, special occasions and classes. We are confident that our operation meets the highest conventional standards you are looking for because our focus is on the presentation and quality of food. Our restaurant uses only the freshest products, meat, and other special ingredients to have our meals prepared and our menu selection of items allows for a diversity of sauces to choose from.

Corporate Event Catering
Aladdin specializes in corporate catering. We are equipped with a very experienced lot of cooks, trained personnel, and waiters to handle all your catering needs. We provide catering services for a large number of guests up to five hundred.

Our facilities include a delivery person setting up the buffet using a tablecloth, serving utensils, all other necessary paper products, and ordered meals using lovely trays, baskets and chaffing dishes. The delivery person sets up an excellent presentation and returns at the requested time to clean up and pick our equipment.

Aladdin makes ordering easy. You will find an order sheet enclosed which you can call at our place to order or copy to fax your orders by just filling in the blank spaces. The corporate package menus are also designed to ease the menu planning process.

Aladdin restaurant also provides full-service bouquet and catering facilities. You will prepare a customized menu based on the type of event, an itemized needed staff and rentals, and an estimate of the cost. You will be required to call with the details of the event.

A diet filled with Middle Eastern food, similar to a Mediterranean diet, incorporates the flavorful foods of the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. This food is conducive with a health diet, as it keeps the body healthy by being heart healthy and staving off many chronic diseases.

Middle Eastern food emphasizes the use of fish, olive oil, whole grains, legumes, and vegetables. Vegetarian food is often enjoyed, as it is heart healthy and strong flavors can be showcased. Because cholesterol and saturated fat are only found in foods that are animal-based, Eating vegetarian or vegan food is very health-conscious. Heart-healthy fats, such as omega-3 fatty acids in fish and olive oil are healthy sources of fats.

For example, Tabouleh is a superfood that incorporates healthy olive oil with a refreshing mix of bulgur wheat, fresh onions and tomatoes, mint, lemon, and salt. This is a perfect dish for corporate catering as it is a crowd pleaser that can easily go along with any entree meal.

Baba Ghanouj is also great for catering, as its light and fresh consistency pairs well with wood-fired pita bread. Baba Ghanouj is a fresh blend of baked eggplant, fresh garlic, tahini, and lemon. Eggplant is especially good for your health, as it is a great source of dietary fiber, copper, and vitamin B1. It also has manganese, niacin, vitamin B6, potassium, vitamin K, and folate. Its phytonutrients include nasunin and chlorogenic acid, which are vital to overall health.

Following a Middle Eastern diet is also beneficial to brain health, cognitive function, and overall mortality. Studies have shown a Middle Eastern diet has been able to have an effect on the prevention of Parkinson’s, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s in 1.5 million people. For lunch, you might enjoy an Aladdin Mediterranean Chicken Salad with homemade lemon and olive oil dressing, with a wood fired pita on the side. For dinner, try some falafels, which is a vegetarian delight, and a Koufta Kabob to add some additional protein to your day.

There are many varieties of food available to help you stay healthy while eating Middle Eastern food. The options are endless for your taste and the taste of others. If you are putting on a corporate catering event, impress your guests by including a healthy menu for them to enjoy that will keep them energized throughout the day. Encouraging your guests to eat healthy vegetarian and vegan foods is a great way to have them experience new flavors that they will want to go back for more.

To start off 2017 on the right culinary mood, the chef of Aladdin Mediterranean Restaurant in San Diego recommends Chicken Tika Kebab, a fusion dish that is not only delicious but also very interesting in terms of its origin.

Chicken Tika Kebab is perfect for a healthy lunch or a light dinner enjoyed during the spring and summer months. This meal consists of two chicken kebab skewers served with fresh basmati rice, vine-ripe tomatoes, hummus, Lebanese salad, pita bread, and a side portion of garlic sauce. The kebabs are white meat chicken tenders marinated in a tika, also known as tikka, sauce and carefully broiled to a crispy and golden perfection.

The History of Chicken Tika Kebab

Although the word kebab comes from an Arabic term used to describe Persian recipes that called for grilling chunks of meat, chicken or lamb on skewers, cooking instruments to make kebabs dating more than 1,500 years BC have been found by archaeologists in Greece. Even philosophers and authors from Ancient Greece mentioned this method of cooking in their scrolls; therefore the origin of kebabs is certainly Mediterranean.

Turkish historians acknowledge that kebabs were popular in the royal courts of the Persian Empires; they were subsequently adopted by many Mediterranean cultures as a breakfast or lunch dish to enjoy with pita bread.

The chicken tika marinade happens to be popular in the United Kingdom, precisely in Scotland. In the 1970s, a restaurant that specialized in Indian and Pakistani dishes came up with the marinade by accident. A diner ordered a chicken curry, a dish that had already become popular across the UK by the 1960s. The diner complained that the curry was too dry; the chef fixed up the dish with tomato soup as well as a few spices and the result was an amazing combination.

After the accidental tika invention, Indian and Pakistani chefs in the UK started to experiment with a chicken marinade that included yogurt, tomato and other spices. The chicken was baked tandoori-style, covered with an elaborate masala sauce, and served over rice.

Chicken Tika in San Diego

Although the original tika recipe can be considered to be a British dish, the chicken tika kebab of Aladdin Cafe is a Mediterranean variation that puts the chicken tenders on skewers after they have been marinated. Other Aladdin Cafe meals prepared with the tika marinade include lamb kebab and shish kebab.

Since this is a Mediterranean-inspired dish, it can be enjoyed with iced tea, lemonade, a frosty lager style beer, blush wine, or Pinot Noir.