If you like something different, then you will love the Aladdin cave restaurant!

This restaurant is only for lovers of the different, those who test the limits of a mixture of spices, culture, and passion for creating something new, unique, and Arabic. Yes, you heard me right!

This time we left the traditional kitchen of chefs throughout the Adria region and headed to Tkalča, as it is fondly called (Ivan Tkalčić Street) in Zagreb, to visit a recently opened restaurant with magical and delicious Arabic cuisine.

As a lover of such food, and as someone who has lived in Arab countries for a part of my life, sometimes I miss such food. Although I know how to make most of it at home, it is very difficult to find the spices that such meals require, so of course, I had to go to the Jordanian restaurant Aladdin Cave, to try what they have to offer, who prepares it, and if it smells as good as in my dreams. 

Aladdin Cave, Zagreb, Photo: Adria.fun

Aladdin Cave is located almost at the very top of Zagreb’s most famous street, known for being full of restaurants, both local and creative, as well as international and oriental.

As I already planned to go there, walking to number 53 was not difficult for me, and I was just waiting for the moment when the smell of falafel, shawarma, and shakshuka would blow me away.

Aladdin Cave, Zagreb, Photo: Adria.fun

Since I arrived during an early lunch, the restaurant was not crowded, so we were quickly served. I already knew what I wanted to eat, because of course one thing I always test first, and by which I know if a restaurant with Arabic cuisine is right for me, is the way they make shawarma. And so I ordered it.

It is a typical Arabic “sandwich” that combines delicious meat with sauce, and if you choose the menu, i.e. “shawarma arabia“, you will also get fried fries and a fresh salad (sometimes comes pickled).

Aladdin Cave, Zagreb, Photo: Adria.fun

Although of course, they have a very rich menu, on which you can also find some of the more famous dishes such as hummus, falafel, shakshouka, fatoush, shish tawook, mandi, lentil soup, there are also those that few have heard of, which made me happy, so I immediately put the restaurant on the list of those I must visit again to try the rest. 

 

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Usually, shawarma is served with garlic sauce, but this, a completely new taste for me, simply enchanted me, that’s why you’re reading this review today.

On that occasion, I simply had to meet the owner of the restaurant, Mr. Raed Arafat, who first arrived in Croatia from Jordan 40 years ago and then 30 years later opened his first restaurant in Zagreb, and ask him about the recipe.

During the conversation, I briefly learned about the secret ingredients, how to get the spices, and how he created this sauce, so I recommend that you go see it for yourself.

For more information, there is also their Instagram profile!