The Halal Guys Facebook photo.

The Halal Guys, the fast casual restaurant serving Middle Eastern-style chicken, beef and vegetable dishes, has opened its newest location in the recently renovated historic Hamilton Court at 39th and Chestnut. The grand opening for the University City location is set for this Saturday, March 23rd from 11 a.m. – 4 a.m.

This is the fourth Philadelphia location opened by local franchise owners Jung Ahn and Naveen Mohiuddin, who also operate locations in Chinatown, King of Prussia and Northeast Philadelphia.  Continue Reading

After a couple of years in the making, Alrayyan Food Market has finally opened on the corner of 43rd and Sansom, on the ground floor of the new 5-story apartment building. Alrayyan features an international and Middle Eastern food market and a restaurant.

The supermarket section also sells organic and halal foods, produce, meats, baked goods, dairy and more.

The restaurant serves traditional Middle Eastern foods, such as shawarma ($7.95), kofta ($9.25-$11.95), falafels ($5.99), and lamb chops plus appetizers and salads, like hummus, Baba ghanoush, and tabouli.  Continue Reading

Though it opened a few months ago, many West Philly Local readers may not be familiar with Hadramout Restaurant, a Yemeni eatery located at 136 S. 45th Street (between Walnut and Sansom, just across from the AICP mosque).

Hadramout serves generous portions of traditional Yemeni dishes, many of which feature ingredients and flavors not often seen in American eateries. Among these dishes are molokhia chicken (chicken with cooked greens), saltah with holba (beef stew with fenugreek topping, served with fresh-baked flatbread), haneeth (pressure-cooked lamb) and Yemeni milk tea (shahi haleeb). All the meat is halal, slaughtered in accordance with Islamic dietary law.

Hadramout offers both takeout and dine-in options, with delivery a possibility for the future. The restaurant is open until 10 at night, 7 days a week.

– Mike VanHelder

A neighborhood favorite when it came to halal meat and injera – that hard-to-find-and-even-harder-to-make Ethiopian and Eritrean bread – has closed. But it will be back.

Mohamed’s Halal Center on the north side of Walnut near 46th closed its doors late last month, but its owners plan to return to the area’s food scene in a couple of months with a spot on 48th Street near Spruce at the Center for Culinary Enterprises (CCE), which will house three retail spaces in addition to the shared-use commercial kitchens, an “eKitchen” smart classroom that will include a demonstration kitchen/television studio and other innovative programs. The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation is coordinating the $5 million CCE.

We’re going to have a lot more on this soon, including the concepts behind the three retail spaces, but we just wanted to pass along the word on Mohamed’s for now. No word yet on what might become of the building on Walnut, which has housed many businesses over the years.

(H/T UCNeighbors)