NYC’s The Halal Guys to open in London next year

Muslim-American success story The Halal Guys have announced that they will be debuting in Europe next year.

Scheduled for March, the NYC street food cart will be opening a restaurant close to central London’s popular Leicester Square.

With a location on Irving Street, the business, which began in the 1990s by a trio of Egyptian immigrants, boasts 85 outlets across North America and the Far East.

Known for its trademark mayonnaise and hot red sauce, the brand is so popular that it continues to serve customers well into the early hours of the morning.

The London restaurant will of course be offering its staple of grilled chicken and/ or gyro beef – a doner kebab of Greek origin – wrapped in either a pitta or served with rice.

For vegetarians, there will be the alternative falafels version.

Perhaps the city’s most famous open-air dining destination – New York Post

Established by Ahmed Elsaka, Mohammed Abouelenein and Abdelbaset Elsayed, The Halal Guys first setup on the corner of 53rd Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan 28 years ago.

Although they started by serving hot dogs, they quickly found greater demand for their kebabs with business hours open until 5am.

Since 2015, the brand has been growing rapidly and this latest move is part of a major expansion plan that involves opening a whopping 400 more.

Prices appear competitive too with £6 for a pitta bread meal, as well as £7 and £8 for the smaller and larger platter, respectively.

With a strong reputation coming in, they will be facing stiff competition from another Halal franchise that launched its “healthy” doners back in 2015, German Doner Kebab, whom FtL interviewed here.

Currently GDK has opened 28 stores across the country with the latest two having been launched within a week of each other in West Bromwich and Coventry.