I was not that worried about finding halal food in London before arriving. My sister had been working and living there for 3 years, so she would know where to get halal food.
On social media, I kept getting served with content from influencers who would recommend halal food although they are non Muslims. Those mouth-watering photos and videos were getting me quite excited!
DISCLAIMER: As a practicing Muslim who wears the hijab, while I am conscious about my food consumption, I practice flexibility and may be what some call liberal. Other Muslims may practice different flexibility in their choice when eating out.
Halal Food in London Eateries List
Content List
Halal in London
Halal Breakfast London
Chestnut Bakery
Koub Cafe
TomTom Coffee House
Kula Cafe London
Halal Restaurants in London Central
Dishoom
Duck and Noodle
Roti King & Gopal’s Corner
Rasa Sayang
Hong Kong Restaurant
Halal Fast Food in London
Chaiiwala
German Doner Kebab (GDK)
Cheatmeals
Thunderbird
Halal Guys
Taco Bell
Wok & Fire
Chopstix Noodle Bar
Old Chang Kee (OCK)
Halal in London
When I arrived in London, I found a good number of halal restaurants in London Central. Most halal eateries are either Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian. Kebabs are the most common halal food you can find.
I was staying in Victoria for 4 months in London. There’s Gopal, a Malaysian-Indian stall, and Wok And Fire, serving wok-fry noodles near the Victoria Rail and Underground station.
Halal cafes in London are plenty, too. A short walk away from the Victoria Station, along the Victoria Bus station stretch has Chestnut Bakery for the best pastries, Koub a fairly new UAE coffee house and Melissa’s Kitchen selling kebab, burger and fish & chips.
I did try to check out some of those influencers-recommended eateries with halal options.
What I found was that the idea of halal in London by non-Muslims eateries is mostly based on the option of having halal poultry and/or meat served. These places do serve pork.
One particular example, a restaurant Wan & I checked out has a good long list of chicken and beef menu with the halal Arabic word (حلال) beside every line. Promising! But further down the menu list was a pork dish or two.
While Wan and I would rather eat at a place that does not serve pork or alcohol, we are flexible when we are out with a diverse group of people. But it is good to note that there are definitely a lot more places in London that serve all-halal food – although having alcohol served – than I had thought there were.
Halal Breakfast London
One of the things I look forward to in London is to find breakfast. As morning people, Wan and I enjoy our breakfast and coffee before starting the day. Here are the breakfast spots we have tried:
Chestnut Bakery
This was our go-to for breakfast, pastries, lunch or dinner. While Chestnut Bakery has 2 outlets in London (one in Covent Garden), we frequent the one in Belgravia as it was closer to where we stayed. I love their attentive and friendly staff – which made the already sumptuous food more delicious.
My personal favorite order is the pastrami bagel at any time of the day. And a favorite to share is their flatbread of Bresaola, Brie, White Sauce, Pine Nuts.
Do try their croissant which won UK’s best croissant in 2023.
Koub Cafe
Wan and I would sometimes take away our breakfast from Chestnut and move next door to Koub for its strong coffee. This newly opened Emirati-inspired cafe (during Spring 2024) is their first branch outside of the Middle East.
While I had my usual latte, Wan enjoyed their signature Spanish latte, and we would be in the cozy seating area tucked at the back of the cafe. We have spent some quiet times enjoying our coffee while reading here too.
TomTom Coffee House
A popular coffee house with a bee-line of people waiting to get a table most of the time. But I noticed the best times without having to queue are always during breakfast as they are open as early as 8am on weekdays and 9am on weekends. Rumored to produce one of the finest cups of coffee in the West End, it explains the queue.
You would be surprised to learn that TomTom actually started as a cigar store. The cigar store is still operational to date, just a few doors away from the coffee house and hence why cigars are available in the menu here.
Kula Cafe London
Located in James Street in the Marylebone area, Kula was the best halal brunch London surprised us with. It was a quick search as we were heading to Daunt Books on a Friday, and we wanted brunch to fill us up before the prayers. The cakes and pastries on display are so yummy, I thought they were waving at me to eat them!
I always prefer savory to sweet for brunch – I had the Rosti Benedict while Wan had the pancakes with strawberries and bananas. A bountiful start to our Friday definitely!
Halal Restaurants in London Central
Dishoom
If you are an avid foodie like me, you would have watched Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix. It was the last featured restaurant to wrap up Phil’s London episode. I was excited when I found out that Dishoom serves halal food in London!
The chai is refillable without limit – free flow! My sister had made Dishoom the place to bring fellow Singaporeans – family and relatives who visit her to enjoy a wonderful meal together.
We went to the Kensington branch where its specialty is the Nalli Nihari Biryani. We had some naan and okra fries along with the amazing biryani.
Duck and Noodle
Duck and Noodle, based in the Bayswater area, serves Halal contemporary Chinese cuisine. Many claim it to have the best roast duck in London. We can happily testify that this is true.
As someone who loves her duck, I tried the duck rice and had a happy tummy after! Wan had their signature duck noodles (duh!) and we both agreed that this was one of the best meals we had in London.
Roti King & Gopal’s Corner
Being Singaporeans, we try not to frequent places that serve food we can get back home while in London. However, either out of necessity or convenience, we would.
Roti King and its subsidiary, Gopal’s serve Malaysian-Indian food. Their menu of roti canai, murtabak, mee goreng (fried noodles) and nasi goreng (fried rice) may not be as great as the mamaks in Malaysia, but still wonderfully delicious. Teh tarik (pulled tea) hits differently in the chills of London.
Rasa Sayang
Rasa Sayang is one of the few eateries with halal options in London’s Chinatown. Its brainchild of Ellen Chew who is a UK-based Singaporean restaurateur. They serve classic dishes from both Singapore and Malaysia.
Do note that most of the time, especially for dinner, Rasa Sayang would usually have a queue. We had bought it for takeaway or via delivery.
Hong Kong Restaurant
Authentic Hong Kong restaurant which does not need to go by any other name. Located in Islington, they serve Halal Hong Kong cuisine, especially dim sum! Appropriately, we had a Lunar New Year lunch with my sister and her colleagues here.
Besides dim sum, we highly recommend their wok and noodle dishes.
Halal Fast Food in London
Chaiiwala
We had breakfast from Chaiiwala through delivery before. Before spending the whole day at the Natural History Museum, we went into its Knightsbridge branch. A famished me had the English-ish Breakfast while Wan had the keema and paratha. We both had the karak coffee.
Returning to the same Chaiiwala branch for dinner at the end of the day, and we had the Karachi Bun Kebab (which reminds us of Ramly Burger!) with the karak chai each.
Both the karak coffee and chai are the best we had in London!
Bonus points for Chaiiwala Knightsbridge for having a prayer room located at their basement!
German Doner Kebab (GDK)
We first had the German Doner Kebab in Liverpool (photo of Wan above was taken there). It was so good we had to have it again back in London.
When you are ordering the kebab, do note that the portions are huge! If you are a small eater (aka Asian stomach), try ordering one meal to share among two people before you decide to order more.
Cheatmeals
We find it hard to believe that this fast food restaurant, added as an option for halal burger in London, was started by a group of gym rats. We learnt of Cheatmeals from the advertisement that were playing while waiting for Maghrib azan during Ramadan.
Check out their ‘cheatmeals’ on the menu: a series of burgers with 3 different meat-fillings (beef, chicken AND turkey) in them.
Thunderbird
Wan absolutely loved their Chipuffalo wings (which won them an award) which are drenched in their signature chipotle-buffalo sauce.
My sister recommended this to my cousins who were in London during the same time we were. They were staying at a nearby hotel. They tried it and told us they liked it. And we liked it too!
Thunderbird was founded when an ex-NASCAR driver had to give up his racing career during the recession. Turning to cooking and selling his food out of a food truck, he struck gold when after only putting them on the menu for three months, his buffalo wings won an award for the Best Buffalo Wings in London!
Thunderbird has extended their menu since then, offering American fast food fare such as burgers, wraps and milkshakes. I love their burgers but I recommend you get the chicken wings!
Halal Guys
The famous New York stand guys have gone global. Who can resist a platter of Halal Guys wherever they are available in the world? We cannot, obviously!
This is the third country where we have enjoyed the fare of The Halal Guys after having them in Jakarta, Indonesia. Seriously, what is in THAT addictive white sauce?!
For those not in the know, The Halal Guys is most recognized by their dish of chicken or gyro meat in a platter of rice and salad. We recommend you double up on the white sauce when ordering and be cautious of the red one. If you do not have the tolerance for spice, that thing is HOT!
Taco Bell
I’m not sure about you, but ever since Taco Bell exited Singapore, we do try to get ourselves Taco Bell when we can at least once. We still love and enjoy their food. (Can they come back to Singapore?)
Wok & Fire
One of my best go-to wok-fried noodles. You order from a list on the menu, and your order will be fried right away. You can eat it right away in the store or get a Chinese-takeaway to take out.
This is somewhat similar to our Wok Hey back in Singapore. They also serve corn dogs on their menu!
Chopstix Noodle Bar
They have egg fried rice, vegetable noodles and skinny rice as a base option. And you can have dish toppings added on. If you’re familiar with Singapore economic rice, it’s something similar, but not economically the same. They are a great choice when you are in a hurry and want something substantial on the go.
Old Chang Kee (OCK)
Yes, yes, the curry puffs cost 3 times more than back home. But the puffs are bigger and with the need for imported ingredients, we can accept the price. Hands down the best curry puffs in London – which reminds us of home.
It was a rainy day in Covent Garden and we wanted something hot to warm our bellies. We had the laksa and fried laksa respectively.
All in all, as a Muslim, it is up to your own discretion and comfort as to what you would consume – either traveling to a foreign country or within your own hometown.
I hope this sharing helps other Muslims who are more conscious and wary of what they eat. I hope to also dispel the notion that it is not easy to find halal food in London.
If you are a non-Muslim living in London, I hope this list would also help you narrow down places to bring your visiting Muslim friend to eat out.
Remember to say Bismillah before you eat!
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