Tawakal Halal
African restaurant · Area 2/MIT ·
Halal Somali cafe featuring chapati wraps, biryanis & house-made hot sauce
Halal Somali cafe featuring chapati wraps, biryanis & house-made hot sauce
"Tawakal Cafe is our favorite place to eat in East Boston, and it’s located so close to Logan that it may also qualify as our favorite airport restaurant. The biryanis and soups are flavored with East African spices, and they’re all very good. But any meal here should include beef sambusas, the beef hilib chapati wrap, and large spoonfuls of the spectacular homemade hot sauce. Do yourself a favor before your next flight - skip the terminal’s $8 chocolate-covered pretzels, and go to Tawakal instead." - joel ang
"I learned that Tawakal Halal Cafe in East Boston—whose chef and owner Yahya Noor was a 2023 James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Northeast—announced it will close on Friday, January 5 after five years in its current location. The restaurant began in 2018 to share its mothers’ cooking and the flavors of Somali heritage, and the team says they hope to relocate; meanwhile they’ll continue selling their sought-after sambusas and flaky chapati with hummus during weekday lunch hours at a satellite location in MIT’s student center, and will host a farewell gathering at 11 a.m. on Saturday, January 6 to celebrate the ties and stories formed over the years." - Erika Adams
"Beloved East Boston Somali spot Tawakal Halal Cafe — one of Boston’s essential restaurants — has debuted a satellite location inside MIT’s Stratton Student Center at 84 Massachusetts Avenue; I note they’ll be running an abbreviated menu at the MIT outpost, and the East Boston shop is temporarily closed until Friday while they get going at the new spot." - Erika Adams
"A bright, family-run Somali café near the airport that reopened its current location in 2019 after a seven-year hiatus; owned and run by chef Yahya Noor, who grew up in the port town of Barawa, the spot is considered a standout of the local Somali food scene and has launched fundraising to open a new location." - Stephanie Carter
"I made Tawakal Halal Cafe my go-to for many, many nights this year and deliberately avoided delivery to ensure more money went to the restaurant." - Rachel Leah Blumenthal