Halal Buns Opens in New Britain: CT's 1st Halal Smashburger, Fried Chicken & Shakes

Fayyaz Bhinde and his wife, Rida Niazi, used to travel from their home in Meriden to New York City whenever they wanted a halal smash burger. When they first got married, they’d head to the city two hours each way, for dinner and dessert. After they became parents, they realized traveling with a toddler would be much more difficult.

When their daughter was a year old, they tried to make the trip to New York for dinner and got stuck in a snowstorm on the way back, enduring bumper-to-bumper traffic from Greenwich to New Haven while their child was “crying her lungs out,” Bhinde said. At that point, they decided “never again” to the lengthy travel, and began thinking about opening their own restaurant closer to home.

In late October, the couple opened Halal Buns in New Britain, after finding their ideal location in a vacated Wing It On! restaurant space at the edge of Central Connecticut State University’s campus. Their menu of smash burgers, hot dogs, chicken wings and sandwiches, loaded fries and milkshakes is 100 percent zabiha halal, Bhinde said, meaning that the meat has been slaughtered and prepared according to Islamic dietary law. (There are no pork products on Halal Buns’ menu, either – the hot dogs are made up of 100 percent beef, as is the bacon.)

Bhinde says he believes Halal Buns is the first in Connecticut to offer the halal smash burger option, using grass-fed Black Angus Creekstone beef. The four-ounce smashed patties are served with classic toppings or loaded up as signature burgers, like the Aloha with pepper jack cheese, pineapple, bacon bits, jalapeño, jerk seasoning and Nashville hot sauce. The Fuego, which like the Aloha has double beef patties, features spicy pepper jack,  jalapeño, bacon and both Nashville hot and chipotle ranch sauces. 

Extra-decadent options include the Juicy Lucy, a take on the Minnesota regional specialty with cheese-stuffed patties, and the Big Boy, with triple patties and double cheese. The Karachi Fire features a beef chapli patty served with mint chutney, tamarind, grilled onion and tomatoes. 

Halal Buns also offers plenty of chicken selections, with crispy sandwiches in Nashville hot and spicy “red lava” varieties and a Mumbai Spice option, with “inferno” sauce, chipotle ranch, pickles and jalapeño aioli Desi slaw. The menu offers wings and tenders with customers’ choice of 17 different sauces, from heat-free garlic parm to blazing “Lunatic,” and seven different rub varieties like sweet spice, Cajun and lemon pepper.

Chicken bites are also served in warm bubble waffle cones with or without the addition of creamy mac and cheese, and Halal Buns also offers loaded mac and cheese and fries, with the addition of chicken or beef. Gourmet beef hot dogs include The OG, with cream cheese, crispy fried onions, sriracha, homemade curry ketchup and honey mayo, and a “chopped cheese” dog topped with ground beef, American cheese, diced onions and cheese sauce. 

Halal Buns is also known for milkshakes, with classic vanilla, strawberry, chocolate and Oreo and rotating flavors like red velvet cheesecake, churro and Reese’s peanut butter. Two Indian-inspired flavors include falooda, a rose-based confection, Bhinde said, and paan, which he likened to mint.

Bhinde said about 30 percent of the restaurant’s customers are Muslim, and they’ve thanked him and Niazi for opening in New Britain, so they no longer have to travel to the city themselves to get the halal food they crave. The other 70 percent just enjoy “amazing burger quality,” he said, and the restaurant naturally attracts CCSU students, who can easily walk from campus.

The couple is working on an expansion of the space to offer a “dessert lounge,” with treats like loaded waffles, milkshakes, crepes and a chocolate fountain, Bhinde said. Halal Buns will also remain open overnight during the 30 days of Ramadan, which begins Feb. 28, to accommodate Muslim guests who are fasting each day from dawn to sunset.

Halal Buns is at 1537 Stanley Street in New Britain. 860-357-3629, @halal.buns.