new york's most popular street food is the halal cart and today we're going to be visiting the
city's best reviewed halal trucks all in midtown manhattan to see if they're worth it now you
might be wondering what is halal it's an arabic word meaning permissible and it means it's meat
prepared by islamic law now typically new york halal consists of some combination of rice greens
and halal meat either in a foil dish or in a sandwich first stop royal grill halal food
four and a half stars on yelp if i could fly this man to california to live with me and
cook me food for the rest of my life i would i was in new york for about a week came here twice
once in the pouring rain and once in the freezing cold great food nice people
underrated huge portions chicken tikka is my go-to i'll come here whenever i'm in new york
way better than the overpriced halal guys chain food truck that charges 14 for a dry gyro wow
we've got some shots fired already on this video i didn't say it he said it let's check this out
got my food expert greg with me and one of the amazing things about the new york halal scene
is it's not all the same they all have their own personalities right absolutely royal girl's pretty
famous they want a vendi award which nominates the best street food vendors in the city and they're
known for their chicken tikka this is a really interesting delicious dish yeah one chicken tikka
i don't want to eat this this looks too pretty to eat this is like a work of art all those colors
so what do we got break this down for us pretty much everything but the kitchen sink here we have
the chicken chicken which is a very deep red color you have the white sauce which is like the yogurt
mayo sauce a little bit of the hot sauce the green sauce is like a mint chutney and also this mango
pickle which is a really kind of a secret thing you have to ask him for here now the owner is
from bangladesh it has that kind of bangladeshi flavor in this plate all right let's try it
this tastes like something i would order at a nice bengali restaurant not on the side of the street
here in new york city wow that first bite that's a lot of flavor that's a lot of spices yeah very
punchy spice and we haven't gotten to the rice yet the rice here is also very special it's spicy
creamy you get that mango pickle that minty flavor the biryani flavor it's it's got it all over this
place dude i have to say it this might be the best rice i've ever had at a halal truck before
it's up there for me for sure would you say the halal cart in new york is like the taco
stand in la i would say yes i mean halal carts have really taken over new york i say in the
last 20 to 30 years it's overtaken the hot dog cart i would even say it's overtaking pizza
as the number one street food you know we want to say pizza is a street food but i'd say it's
definitely by far number one street food new york city i just have one problem with this this is
our first stop and i want to finish it right now that's the only problem i have with this this is
unreal it's absolutely tremendous i'm shocked there wasn't a longer line for this
quick meal nyc 4.5 on google reviews new york's exquisite street car experience created by bengali
chef mohammad rahman former russian tea house chef the spices are delicate food is the best take your
tasty meal for a sunny afternoon at bryant park once in a lifetime experience as a native new
yorker halal carts have become a staple of my diet i've visited halal carts that are terrible
meh okay and unforgettable quick meal unforgettable best halal food i've ever had in
a while whenever i'm in the city i always come for quick meal perfect for vegetarians too and plenty
of fish options to choose from my vegetarian viewers i'm looking out for you guys too so quick
meal is a little bit more of a higher end halal cart the price may be a dollar two more but it's
for good reason the quality of the ingredients here so we're going to order the lamb over rice
here they actually use marinated pieces of lamb not the mince mystery meat stuff hello how are you
compared to royal quick meal is a lot simpler and look most of the sauce is actually on the side
so if you're someone that doesn't like a ton of
sauce i think this could appeal to you all right let's do it
this is a high quality lamb i can tell absolutely it doesn't have really bold punchy flavors no i
don't think it's meant to this one's meant to i think more showcase the quality of the ingredients
you know i would also i would love this like a gyro or a sandwich too yeah the white sauce
it's not even your classic white sauce this is definitely more yogurt it's more like a tzatziki
like a greek yogurt thicker has more of a yogurt i don't taste any mayonnaise yeah it's not like
a really strong flavor it's very different than your typical halal cart this is for like the true
meat eater someone that just wants that lamb you're gonna get your money's worth with this
i'll tell you what they actually have salmon here and it's shockingly very very good probably not
something you would normally think of ordering in new york city i typically know especially from a
cart but it's very good the quality here is next level what's amazing about today's video is that
everything here is right on avenue the america six dab in midtown so if you're a tourist watching
this is so easy to complete by yourself but if you want to go more off the eaton path
this guy offers new york's best food tour that do in the most delicious neighborhood
in new york city in queens of future and my favorite halal cart in all of new york city
is on that tour so if you want to taste my favorite overall halal cart and i've
been at a lot of them you come and take my tour i'll put the link in the description
we're about to go try the famous halal guys and when a card is as famous as halal guys you have
a lot of imitators like this one the original guys don't go here if you want to try the halal
guys don't go here it's very confusing because they even use the same color scheme you can see
we found the original halal guys by the line the halal guys 4.4 on google best food in manhattan
at a great price you may need to line up and wait to order because all the locals do the same
and they know better than anyone oh my god this was excellent we got the beef gyro and the
combination platter loved every bite the white sauce was special guys were great at the card
loved it all right it's got the hype we've got the og of the halal scene in new york
city a lot of guys opened in 1990 and they were actually a hot dog cart originally by
three egyptian immigrants today they've got six locations in new york city 94 locations
worldwide with up to 400 more coming they may be coming to a mall near you
we've actually returned to six and a half ave if you saw my 10 curious nyc secrets video
this may look familiar and it's a cool spot if you want a little hideaway to eat your halal guys
so this is something i don't really like about halal guys is they give you sauce packets i would
much rather they do it themselves because part of the experience yeah i mean they're very corporate
now at this point they have all the branding on it just want to look at this i say it really does
need the sauce the meat at first glance looks very dry i'll be honest guys my first time ever eating
halal guys i've been waiting years and years to try it here we are all right let's do it
there's no flavor not chicken at all you know i don't
dislike the beef with the sauce with the white sauce and the red sauce it's not bad
i'm gonna try the chicken i think you're gonna like the beef a little bit more
yeah the beef is definitely better than a chicken on its own but not very good either chicken's
not really good you know i i was thinking of an analogy for this i'm not the biggest fan of joe's
pizza for the record but a lot of people want to go there just to say they've eaten there i would
say going to halal guys if it's on your new york city checklist go for it yeah but it tastes pretty
mediocre to me like it's not the worst i've ever had i just don't think it's worth waiting in a
super long line for it um this is a worldwide chain now even with the sauces it's still not
good it's very bland to me i don't like it i think it's maybe one of the most overrated foods in new
york city i would say a lot of guys maybe in the past it used to be better yeah sometimes
the places expand the quality goes down but i don't even know that i went here three years ago
and it tasted just like it did now so you are going to get consistency but not in a good way
eb nice to meet you me too adele's 4.5 on google reviews my every week late night dinner currently
the best food in the city for me don't even think just go here it will be worth it normally
a typical time to place order stand in line 30 minutes but definitely worth it they work really
fast you know that if there's a line at 11 pm it's got to be good and the line doesn't lie the guys
working were fast and efficient the chicken hero was delicious the chicken over rice quite tasty
same thing over the spicy rice makes it even better this is my favorite spot guys i will
say that up front this has always been my favorite and now greg's going to try it spend at least 40
minutes in this live wow it's insane it is 107 people just waiting it was all the way down to
that that pink truck down there huh that is crazy adele's hasn't even opened yet and she wants to go
right before her flight right yeah so we have a flight at like eight o'clock it's
almost six now and there's a lot of stuff we gotta get it before we left so i wanna do the combo
platter spicy rice do you like some veggies some broccoli garlic yeah give us the works
and this is about five pounds worth of food so let's start from the top they gave us
french fries they gave us falafel then we've got veggies including broccoli here we've got
a mix of chicken and lamb and if you can get to the bottom somehow someway we have their famous
spicy rice it's actually better to use a spoon but this is messy it's messy food
that is good you know what it is for me i think they're they're white sauce it's the best white
sauce i've ever had in the city there's a reason for those long lines folks i'm telling you i can
see it it's good it's good i don't think it's good i just feel like the flavors for adele's are a
little bit more classical new york halal which is why i would personally put adele's in my top five
must visit food destinations in new york city oh i've got a bite of that spicy rice it's got a lot
of flavor i think it was kind of covered up out of meat it's growing on him this is very good i
would definitely come back ideally not at the end of that line though i say it every time but right
in front of us we have radio city musical such a cool new york city moment to even be here i think
the evolution of halal carts and how popular they become in new york is really a testament to the
diversity of new york because this was a food that was aimed at muslim taxi drivers and now
all new yorkers eat it many new yorkers will tell you this is their favorite street food
yeah and really something for everybody if you like chicken if you like lamb if you're vegetarian
you can even get it with falafel and quick meal you can even get fish and i do like that they
all bring their own kind of spices maybe depending on the background of the country you know egyptian
bangladesh pakistani wherever i appreciate that and i mean let's think of a new york pizza every
place has their own little take on him just like halal and i don't think halal gets enough love
from tourists no way more from locals if you like halawa you probably love greek food in
this video we see the city's best one of my favorite guides of the entire year check it out