From Catering to a Thriving Restaurant. A lifelong passion for crafting fresh food has allowed Mouna Alchabad to seamlessly transition from running a successful catering business to opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2018.
Alchabad’s dedication to creating delicious Mediterranean meals at The Mediterranean Chickpea has now been nationally recognized. Yelp recently ranked the restaurant as the #1 vegan eatery in Florida and the #2 in the nation. The mother-daughter duo, Alchabad and Maya Alzaiem, operate the restaurant with the same love and care they put into their own home kitchen.
A Home-Cooked Experience in Every Dish
“Whenever we’re at home, our main dishes are these kinds of foods, so the same things that we bring to the table we have here,” shared Alzaiem. “We offer lots of salads, lots of hummus and dips.”
These dips, especially the hummus, are what have made Alchabad’s creations so incredibly sought after.
“Everyone knows my mom,” said Alzaiem. “She has that like homey sense, she keeps putting food on their plate, you’re not leaving hungry!”
Fresh, Veggie-Forward Middle Eastern Cuisine
The Mediterranean Chickpea specializes in Middle Eastern cuisine that is veggie-forward, featuring dishes like lentils, baba ghanoush, and fava bean salads, along with other wholesome offerings.
“She puts a lot of love into it,” explained Alzaiem of her mother’s cooking. “It’s all recipes that she learned and came up with. It’s all made fresh. It’s always good, fresh kind of food.”
Bringing Healthy, Convenient Meals to South Tampa
Their goal was to introduce healthy, flavorful food options to South Tampa, with a focus on making meals that are also easy and convenient for the busy lifestyle of today.
“We want people to feel good to have a good healthy meal that makes them feel light,” said Alzaiem. Visit The Mediterranean Chickpea The Mediterranean Chickpea is located in South Tampa at 3215 S MacDill Avenue, Suite C. FOX 13 News initially published the story.
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