Aladdin Food Express (Halal) — Restaurant in Fort Wayne

Why this place is so out of the way and receives so few reviews, I'll never know.

Aladdin Food Express is a bit out of the way for most Fort Wayners (or... well, anybody, tbh), yet it's easily the best Indian AND Burmese restaurant in town. This is not hyperbole: The cantina serves two different menus, one Indian and one Burmese, each handled by a chef from their respective country. It's basically two restaurants in one. (One time, the Indian chef went on vacation while the Burmese chef was still working, so we couldn't have our fix of Butter Chicken.) The Indian chef also looks like he could be our prof. Eh, question his life decisions all you want. We have many profs, but only one Aladdin.

So how does Aladdin taste? Amazing, actually. Even the fried chicken is good, and I heard a couple folks order the pizza. Y'know, just in case you brought that new friend from work along and they couldn't stand this ethnic food. This fried chicken is Indian-spiced so it's not as famous as Lee's, but you know what they say. All the bestest things can be found on the down low.

So after having ventured this far across town to enjoy some American fare, you may now wonder what the Indian stuff tastes like. Y'know for dessert. Let me tell you this: The butter chicken is DIVINE, and the lamb shank dinners are about the cheapest price you'll pay for finished lamb shank anywhere, while still maintaining quality and an American portion of sides. Personally, I found the lamb shank a tad chewy and didn't have much meaty flavor, so I didn't enjoy it as much as the one at Halal Eats', but darn it is a good value. The biryanis and tandoori stuff are great as well. Only thing that would make it better is if they used a higher meat-to-rice ratio on the biryanis, but for the price they are charging in this economy, I really can't complain too much.

So yeah, Indian chef's solid. You know what's not just Aladdin's, but Fort Wayne's best-kept secret though? Burmese cuisine. Fort Wayne is one of the VERY FEW places in the entirety of America where you can find Burmese food, and most of them advertise as Thai. That being said, the thokes (Burmese salads) provided at Aladdin are superb. The laphet thoke (tea leaves salad) can be used as an appetizer, dessert, or, since it's an American portion for $7, as a way to have your day's worth of food on a college budget. The ame ou thoke (honeycomb tripe) is normally hot as hell, but I think they toned the spicy down a notch recently. Since the biryani lacks meat and the ame-ou smacks heat, I find combining the two to be a worthwhile experience. Asian Fusion, baby!

Mohinga is always great and always out of stock, so I just have my friend's mom make it for me. Thanks (friend's) mom!

TL;DR If there were more Aladdin Food Expresses, we could've achieved...

Restaurant Review I came to this place on a whim given a post of social media during the pandemic. We were craving something with more flavoring than salt and pepper. There are not many Indiana or middle eastern restaurants in Fort Wayne so it was nice being introduced to a new one. It is located in the south part of town. The actual restaurant is quite large, but I am not sure if it was open for dine-in seating. We had called ahead with our order and it was being prepared fresh. There is a carryout window right as you enter in so it was easy to keep a distance from other people, however it seemed slow as there was only one other customer there. We had tried to order shrimp biryani, but they were out, so we settled on chicken biryani and chicken tikka masala. The food itself was fresh and hot, however, I feel that the spices were a little off from your traditional Indian restaurant. It could be due to the asian/burmese influence on the food as I noticed they had a few Asian dishes as well which you don't typically see. The biryani was a healthy portion enough for 2 meals. There was large piece of dark meat chicken. The one thing that seemed to be missing was the saffron taste and spiciness you would often get with a biryani. It also only came with the white sauce and not the yellow sauce. The chicken tikka masala was very creamy, but once again something was different than the typical spice you get at an Indian restaurant. We did get some extra plain naan (interestingly, the price for specialty naan is exactly the same so I should have tried something else), but it was rather dry and didn't have the fluffiness you typically get with naan. Overall it was an OK meal, but for people that don't like super spicy or strong aromatics, this would be...

Aladdin is a gem. The genie (chef) has magically transported me back to Southeast Asia with the aroma from the harmonious play of spices.

Biryani and curry are balanced , and does not overwhelmed the taste bud like a Mike Tyson knockout, but a play like Muhammad Ali “fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee” . The biryani has a beautiful hint of cardamom, with a beautiful brushstrokes of contrasting mint and pepper. This may be a quirky thing from me, I thought the coleslaw was a fish out of the water, but “boy, was I wrong”. Try the biryani on its own, then mixed in the coleslaw to the biryani, the tangy flavor appears to bring out a new life to the biryani, as it peels off the ghee overtone.

The curry has the rightful richness of coconut and thickened with potato. It pairs well with Biryani and the naan.

Is this a 5 star restaurant? By no means, but again, good food need not to come from fine dining experience all the time. Aladdin served a hearty, down to earth dishes that will lure you back; if you are into Malay-Indian cuisine.

Honorary mention: While their pizza are not the crafted Italian pies from Sicily, it stands on its own as a delicious Asian take...