Madina

Madina
841 Ellice Avenue
(204) 7791820

I have some unfortunate news. Madina has closed down due to a lack of business. The owner has moved to Edmonton to start a restaurant with his brother.

Madina is a small Somalian restaurant located in the West End. Somalian food reminds me of Haitian food, though other people have said it's similar to Ethiopian food. Though the decor is lacking (the building's facade is ugly pink stucco and the door is recessed and unwelcoming), the food is great! The owner is a former student refugee sponsored by the University of Winnipeg's World University Service Club, so this is his first entrepeneurial attempt in Canada. Overlook the spelling and grammatical errors in the menu and embrace the ethnic food experience!

The menu is fairly small, with about twelve or so choices that are all under $10.

I have been to Madina twice, once with a larger group of about 10-12 and once with just my boyfriend.

Both times, I had the Sugar Chicken, which is really, really fantastic. The chicken is cooked with a mixture of spices (that remind me a little of Indian food), onions, and peppers. The main courses come with your choice of rice, jabati (a sweet-ish flatbread similar to nan), or a combination of both. Definitely opt for the combination because both are delicious. The rice is yellow in colour with specks of red, perhaps a saffron rice, and tastes, again, reminiscent of Indian food. The jabati is wonderful for scooping up the chicken dish, as traditionally, this dish is eaten without cutlery.

Nic had the goat dish, which he found to be delicious. The goat must have been slowly stewed because the meat was very tender. The flavouring was an interesting combination of tomato and spiciness and sweetness that I have honestly never tasted before. One slight complaint, however, was that the goat meat was slightly too fatty.

I also tried both the vegetable and meat samosas. They are filled with a mixture of chopped vegetables and/or ground meat with a spicy kick. I like them way more than Indian samosas. They also offer an herbal tea that is very strong on cloves and cinammon, so beware. Also, it tastes awful with cream added. The restaurant brings out cream with it, I think mainly because people expect cream.

The only main dish that is a complete waste of your time is the vegetarian dish, which appears to be steamed/boiled frozen vegetables sprinkled with seasoning, the seasoning not even being the wonderful stuff in the sugar chicken or beef dishes. I think it was just a pity offering for any vegetarians.

So, in the end, great food for a reasonable price with huge portions! Something a little out of the ordinary.