Tawakal Halal Cafe Gets a Shout Out in New UberEats Commercial

A new ad campaign by UberEats that pairs acclaimed gold medal gymnast, Simone Biles, and ‘Queer Eye’ star Jonathan Van Ness gave a plug to one of East Boston’s more celebrated restaurants.

The ad run, ‘Tonight, I’ll be eating’, features Biles and Van Ness discussing what food they will be getting delivered from UberEats as the celebrated gymnast tries to show Van Ness a thing or two about the sport–with usually hysterical results.

In one of the ads, Biles, hanging upside down exclaims, “Tonight, I’ll be eating the beef kabobs from Tawakal (Halal) Cafe in Jeffries Point”.

Owned by Yahya Noor, Tawakal Halal Cafe on the corner of Maverick and Jeffries Streets, has received nothing but accolades since opening.

Bon Appetit named the small cafe that serves up home cooked Somalia cuisine on the corner of Maverick and Jeffries Streets in East Boston to its annual “Hot 10” list saying Noor’s restaurant, “Should be your first stop off the plane” when coming to Boston.

Since opening Tawakal Halal Café, Noor has received much praise for his food, his community giving and his ability to breathe no life into a forgotten corner of Eastie that abuts Logan Airport.

Last year, Boston Magazine named Tawakal Halal Cafe to its annual “Best of Boston” list. In their review Boston Magazine writes, “From-scratch sambusa wrappers stuffed and fried to a hot, flaky crisp, followed by tangled piles of spaghetti sauced with a velvety stew of fragrantly spiced braised goat: Such soul-warming Somali comfort food certainly takes the edge off these anxiety-ridden times. Bonus points for bottles of signature hot sauce available for enlivening humdrum home cooking with East African herbs.”

The cafe was also featured this month on the Phantom Gourmet and appeared over the summer on Chronicle.

Noor said he wouldn’t have been able to make his restaurant a success if not for the support and love from the community, especially during this age of COVID.

“We’re in a time of crisis where businesses are closing everyday,” said Noor. “As a small family business those businesses could have been us. We are blessed to say we are in business for another day and for us to get a call from UberEats saying they would like to feature us on their new campaign to help out small businesses was something we had expected in a million years. Thank you to our dedicated customers for keeping us open. We never thought we would be getting such publicity, especially from a celebrity like Simone Biles.”

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