A new restaurant serving slow-roasted mandi and Yemen's national dish, saltah, has quietly opened its doors at 115 Rosemary St. in Fayetteville, just off Murchison Road. Hadramawt Restaurant & Catering held a soft opening over the past two weeks and is planning a grand opening in the second week of October, bringing owner Ali Abdo's family culinary traditions to a corridor already in the middle of a major public investment push.
USA Wholesale & Distributing, Inc. is located at 203 Blount St. in downtown Fayetteville.
A Blazin Halal Food truck operates at 1978 Skibo Road. Blazin Halal Food has a location in Wichita, Kansas, according to Business Debut. Separately, Abdo also acquired a former bank branch at 697 Country Club Drive to open a brick-and-mortar Blazin Halal Food with a drive-thru, according to Business Debut.
A Menu Rooted in Hadramawt Tradition
Hadramawt Restaurant & Catering draws its name and culinary influence directly from Yemen's Hadramawt region. The centerpiece dish, mandi, features seasoned chicken or lamb slow-baked over basmati rice and plated so the rice soaks up the meat's juices, the Observer reports. Traditionally, mandi is prepared by slow-cooking seasoned meat over rice inside an underground clay pit oven known as a tandoor or taboon, a cooking method with roots in the region, per a historical account on Wikipedia.
Also on the menu is saltah, a traditional Yemeni stew. The restaurant's planned offerings extend further still: Business Debut reports the full-service menu is expected to include haneeth, a slow-roasted lamb dish, along with fahsa, a shredded lamb stew, as well as Yemeni coffee and traditional regional desserts. The kitchen prepares fresh meals every day, and the dining room includes both tables and floor seating along the walls, a nod to traditional Yemeni dining customs.
Positioned on a Corridor Undergoing Major Investment
Hadramawt's arrival lands squarely within one of Fayetteville's most closely watched redevelopment zones. In September 2026, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the city and the Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority a $25.1 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant, projected to leverage more than $531 million in total public and private investment along the Murchison Road corridor, according to CityView NC. The associated Murchison Choice Transformation Plan calls for demolishing 60 aging public housing units at Murchison Townhouses and redeveloping the nearby Elliott Properties site into 323 new mixed-income apartments, per the City of Fayetteville.
Fayetteville State University sits near Abdo's property.
Targeting Students, Troops and First Responders
Abdo is building his customer base with that mix of neighbors in mind. He plans to offer a 10% discount for military members, first responders and students, the Fayetteville Observer reports — a pitch aimed at nearby Fort Liberty.
Customer response during the soft opening has been positive, per the Observer's reporting, and Hadramawt is now operating 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
