Fahima Halal

Had chicken over rice for breakfast, returned a few hours later for lamb over rice. He has yellow and white rice, doesn’t ask you which you prefer, so I don’t know how he decides which to give you.
Other criticisms: While his sauces are fresh, they are somewhat watery and bland. There are other places like Biryani Express which will give you sauteed peppers, onion, and even diced broccoli. Fahima’s offerings are sparse in comparison.
His prices are ⁵⁄₆ rather than 4/​5, reflecting the quality of his ingredients. However, do not come here if you are looking for a greasy generic halal fix, you sauce-​eating beast.
Northwest corner of 47^th and 3^rd, just one guy, no other locations. I would not come back here for XX over rice, but i would for the chicken biryani with egg or kati rolls.
If you’re into hot dogs, his are buttered and grilled.

Moved across 3^rd Ave! Now on northwestern corner of 3^rd and 47^th.
Still delicious.

OH. EM. GEE.
I just died. First of all, this cart moves around, but it’s always in the same area.
Got a gyro, and turned into a salad. Ask the guy to chop up my pita bread. I ate it with a fork cause I didn’t want my hands to get dirty. But seriously, TO DIE FOR!
Good luck finding this place, and when you find it, it’s like a pot of gold. Gyro gold.

*** By the way — place is on NW Corner of 47^th and 3^rd — not 45^th! ***
I’ve been going here for a while and decided to finally write a review. I love Biryani, their biryani is excellent and moist and i like the addition of the hard-​boiled egg.
Most recently I got the chicken and lamb combo, over rice. The lamb was actually chunks of lamb — not processed gyro meat. The chicken looked like real pieces of chicken too. But most importantly, the tatziki was genuine and phenomenal and the sauces he used were carefully places and thought out — almost like a real chef rather than someone who just slabs slob on a styrofoam plate.
Then I did a little reading and found out he’s the brother of the other Kwik Meal Rahman guy — and explained the very similar higher-​quality ingredients/​attention to detail.
If the meats were slightly more moist I’d probably throw the fifth star on there. But maybe it’s just a Bengali-​Muslim-​cook-​everything-​well-​done thing… i dunno.
I still go back.

I stopped by Fahima’s for the first time for the same reason I think a lot of other people have, because I couldn’t do the line for Kwik meal and I’d heard they cook up some good lamb. I was very happy that I stopped here though. I had read good things about the cart serving «dressed up» street food, I wouldn’t call it dressed up but they do seem to use better quality ingredients than many others.
I usually get the chicken or the lamb over rice which are both very tasty. The lamb is not the usual ground lamb or lamb kofta but a much better quality lamb but you certain will pay a premium for it. Depending on the day though, it’s worth the bit of a splurge. Make sure you get some of the hot sauce on top.
The last time I went though, they were offering a curry chicken which you don’t usually see from a cart so I gave it a try. When I opened my styrofoam container I was greeted by a large mound of curried chicken, chick peas and lentils over rice with some greens on the side. The change of pace was sure nice but it cooked have used a bit more of a kick, maybe some more spice. Don’t get me wrong though, I will certainly be back to see what other specials they will be cooking up at the Fahima Halal cart.

A friend told me the biryani here was the closest he’d found to what his mother makes. You can’t find higher praise than that, so I rounded up some co-​workers to come here. We were all impressed. The biryani is at least as good as the more famous carts nearby, maybe better.
Also, due to a recent NYTimes hot dog article that namechecks this cart, we tried the hot dogs here. The owner uses butter, apparently, to make for a tastier dog. Hot-​dog-​loving friends of mine said the dog served here at Fahima was indeed tastier than the usual.

I’m surprised there aren’t more reviews (positive or negative) of this truck. I thought more people would try it when facing overflowing lines at the neighboring Kwik Meal Cart.
Anyway, I agree with the previous reviewer that Fahima’s Biryani Cart-​like offerings do not quite stack up to the original. However, Fahima’s lamb over rice compares favorably with Kwik Meal Cart, and best of all, it’s $ 1.50 cheaper ($ 6.50 vs $ 8.00).
All in all, I think the lamb over rice dishes are pretty similar at Fahima and Kwik Meal. There are a few differences, though. First, Fahima’s is spicier by default; I think there are hot peppers or something in there. Second, the lamb chunks are marginally tougher at Fahima, though not enough to impact my enjoyment. Also, that is outweighed by the fact that there are more of them. The volume of lamb (and rice) at Fahima is better than Kwik Meal.
The white sauce tastes exactly the same to me.
Did I mention it’s $ 1.50 cheaper?

Before this cart there was only one vendor in all of the city selling real lamb over rice and that was Muhammad Rahman, owner of the Kwik Meal cart on the corner of 45^th and 6^th. A former sous chef of the Russian Tea Room, Rahman sells a «classed up» street food, utilizing high quality ingredients. Rahman charges pedestrians a premium for his food. The lamb over rice is not the usual 5 bucks for a platter but a whopping 7.50 for real lamb goodness. That cart also sells salmon, shrimp and tilapia in well done platters.
A dispute led to Rahman’s brother to open his own halal cart right next to the Kwik Meal cart serving the very same food for dollar or 2 less. This review is not really a comparison of which cart’s food is better but more on the cart’s other offerings that were not copied from Kwik meal. I have gone to this cart twice, once getting the shrimp over rice platter which came in at a reasonable 7.50 and the second time getting Kati rolls for 6 bucks.
The Shrimp over rice was very good. It took some time to prepare which I appreciated because you certainly don’t want raw shrimp off a cart. The platter itself was beautifully put together with 7 pieces of grilled seasoned jumbo shrimp placed on a bed of palau rice and grilled vegetables with a side of salad and yogurt sauce. The shrimp was tasty but unfortunately the tails were kept on which made eating a bit cumbersome. The rice went well with the seasoned shrimp but there was no heat which made the yogurt on the side less useful. The salad was good quality, avoiding iceberg lettuce of the mesclun variety. It had a Italian dressing on it which was sharp but a bit unnecessary for a halal platter. The veggies were a major plus because they included large pieces of broccoli and cauliflower. Overall it was a satsifying meal.
The next time I got the cart’s recently introduced kati rolls. Traditionally this is an Indian street food consisting of marinated chicken or lamb, sauttted onions, a special sauce of some kind and carrots wrapped in flaky buttery pita– type bread. The gold standard for Kati rolls in NY can be found a block over on 46^th and 6^th, where the BIryani cart has an array of kati rolls that are lovingly made and pack menagerie of flavor. I got the Fahima’s to see how theirs holds up against the Biryani Cart’s.
Fahima’s kati roll’s are ok at best. The pita is buttery, flaky and sweet as it should be. However, the dish is not executed as well as the Biryani cart’s. It came to me wrapped but not in the way that would prevent it from falling apart when its unwrapped for consumption. It ends up becoming an indian taco of sorts instead of the burrito style that you usually want to go for when getting these. The meat inside was marinated but not as well the Biryani cart’s. I did not get the color flavors I would normally get in eating kati roll further north. Nevertheless, the rolls still hit the spot especially if the Biryani cart is packed and you want to get a kati roll fix.