Halal Food in Astoria? There’s Never Been a Better Moment.

Astoria’s Little Egypt is seeing a boom in restaurants serving Eastern Mediterranean cuisine in the two-block corridor of Steinway Street between Astoria Boulevard and 28th Avenue.

“If you are an Arab, South Asian, North African, or Muslim business owner, you want to be on this block, because this is where the community hangs out,” said Youssef Mubarez, a proprietor of the fast-growing family-owned chain of Yemeni cafes called Mokafe. “This is where the community is.”

Since the 1960s, Egyptians have been arriving in the New York region for better lives. They found new homes in Astoria, Queens; Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; and Paterson, New Jersey. In 1987, Kebab Cafe became the first Egyptian-owned establishment to open along Steinway Street and paved the way for Astoria’s Little Egypt.

Yet the term “Little Egypt” is a misnomer as the neighborhood diversifies. Local business owners hail from Morocco, Yemen, Tunisia, Algeria, and Bangladesh. Their restaurants have established the neighborhood as a beacon to the tri-state Muslim community for World Cup watch parties, Ramadan iftars, and solidarity gatherings focused on Palestine and Israel.

Caroline Shin/Eater NY

Caroline Shin/Eater NY

Today, the Astoria openings include Levant, which opened in July with Lebanese shawarma and Egyptian feteer; Slappin Chick, a Long Island-based halal Nashville hot chicken joint (May); two Yemeni cafes, Mokafe (October 2023) and Moka and Co. (January); and Chocolate House, a New Jersey-based dessert shop featuring ingredients like Dubai chocolate and Lotus Biscoff (February). Kuwait-based chains have landed on Steinway Street, too, such as smoothie shop Bora Bora, Juice Time, and Papa Kanafa.

Still, more storefronts are mid-construction, such as a seafood restaurant called Morjan from the Jordanian American owner of a shawarma spot across the street. A Lebanese restaurant and lounge called Zikrayet is also opening. And an as-yet-unnamed steakhouse from the owners of Levant is on its way.

Several factors have helped establish Little Egypt as a city-wide destination for halal food in the past few years. Mainstream media organizations and social media influencers, both Muslim and non-Muslim, have turned their spotlight on the neighborhood’s restaurants. And Malikah, a women-focused, anti-violence nonprofit, has organized walking tours, a halal festival, and a museum exhibit.

Though Levant is new, co-owner Nabil Abraham is one of the first restaurateurs to help diversify the corridor, having ushered in Lebanese cuisine in the 1980s, around the same time as early Egyptian restaurant openings. Back then, he opened Al Diwan, a Lebanese kebab spot, and Sinbad, a hookah bar, at 30th Avenue and Steinway. He now owns four restaurants: Layali Beirut, Firdoz (which hasn’t opened yet in the old Sahara New York space), and Levant, all three stacked right next to one another. Down the block, he owns an upcoming halal Brazilian-style steakhouse.

These days, the stretch is also seeing an uptick in Yemeni American openings. Yemeni immigrants made their mark on the NYC food scene starting in the 1950s, becoming owners of around 5,000 bodegas. The second generation is now veering towards sleek, beautifully designed cafes such as those that spotlight single-origin, small-batch coffee beans sourced from small farms in Yemen. Michigan-based Moka and Co. opened its Astoria outpost amid its national growth strategy. Longtime Astoria residents started up Mokafe, which specializes in small-batch, organic Yemeni and Guatemalan coffee beans.

“What do you do at night as a Muslim?” asked Mubarez. “We don’t go to bars. We don’t go to hookah anymore.” He himself says he stopped because hookah isn’t healthy and the smell sticks on clothes.

Caroline Shin/Eater NY

Caroline Shin/Eater NY

Although he’d planned for Mokafe to be a daytime destination, he found that business peaks after 6 p.m. from Friday through Sunday. For the Muslim community, Mokafe in Astoria also hosted Kefiyeh Nights, Muslim Women Tea Time, and a celebration of Arab American History Month.

As hookah lounge closings have made way for more cafes, the change has shifted gender dynamics in the area.

“Historically, the block has been very male-dominant,” said Rana Abdelhamid, who grew up in the neighborhood. In 2023, she opened Malikah, a local nonprofit that provides Muslim and SWANA women with self-defense training.

“If you were a young Muslim woman or a young Egyptian woman growing up in the neighborhood, it was kind of stigmatized to be out in the neighborhood, honestly. Especially the older hookah lounges: They’re an important safe space for our uncles, but not necessarily the aunties. A lot of our [women] elders told us this is the first time in 30 years that they feel comfortable just being outside on this block. I think being able to create those alternative spaces had created that openness,” said Abdelhamid.

In October, Abdelhamid hosted the first Muslim Women’s Tea Time at Mokafe — and it won’t be the last.

Caroline Shin is a Queens-raised food journalist and founder of the Cooking with Granny YouTube and workshop series starring immigrant grandmothers. Follow her on Instagram @CookingWGranny.

Caroline Shin/Eater NY

Caroline Shin/Eater NY