I love Chinatown. It is full of some great eats especially desserts and it makes for a great day out. However, I’ve seen claims of it being more of a tourist trap. Overpriced food and far from being authentic. I don’t see it, but I can go with it for the purpose of this post. I’ve then seen London food bloggers offer an alternative: Queensway – Bayswater and they’ve even named it “Chinatown 2.0”, suggesting the options available here are far more authentic, delicious and reasonably priced. After doing a bit of research, I was super happy to discover that most of the best spots to try in this area are actually Halal. Win win! Because even though Chinatown is a vibe, there aren’t actually too many halal dining options (excluding dessert). So, I’m not going to call this Chinatown 2.0, but I’m going to call it London’s Halal Chinatown. Every restaurant mentioned in this post is fully Halal.
Queensway Market
Our first stop is the Queensway Market. A somewhat computer and mobile flea market with a lot of random shops inside including a Russian movie rental place, creepy fortune tellers (DO NOT VISIT!), Brazilian deli place, hair salons, a prayer place for Muslims and some delicious eateries too. From them, we’ll list a few that you should visit. Normah’s, Uzbek Corner and Triple Hot Spicy Café.
Normah’s is a wonderful little Malaysian eatery. Authentic and traditional food as well as the interior. Be prepared to be transported to Malaysia with this one. This is hands down our favourite Malaysian spot in London with arguably the best Roti Canai we’ve ever had. Read the detailed review here.
Uzbek Corner is a quaint little spot that does one of the most intriguing cuisines around right now. Uzbek food is hard to find and here is a spot where you’re able to sample some of their most popular dishes. The cuisine is so interesting because it is a hybrid of a few different cuisines and you can see the influence in the food. Read the detailed review here.
Triple Hot Spicy Café is an Indonesian spot that does some authentic hard to find Indonesian dishes. Unfortunately, on this occasion we didn’t get to dine here, but it looks decent and the reviews seem all positive too. Worth trying it seems.
Now, we’re going to leave the Queensway Market and head towards the Bayswater station. And en route, we’ll find some more gems that are worth stopping by for and that make this area worthy of being labelled London’s Halal Chinatown (even if it is just by me).
Med Salleh Kopitiam
This is our first stop. A Malaysian street food spot that does some dishes that are quite hard to find in the capital and this is another dimension of the Malaysian cuisine that is quite distinct to Normah’s. A kopitam is a coffee shop or breakfast / brunch spot primarily found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Southern Thailand. Primarily, the clientele are of Chinese origin (for those unaware, Malaysia has an Indian and Chinese influence). In such spots, you’ll typically find a wonderful variety of Malaysian/Singaporean coffee along with some absolutely delicious breakfast dishes (Roti Bakar / Kaya Toast). This place is not too dissimilar – here you have to try the Hainanese Chicken Rice, Ais Kacang, Cendol and/or Kaya Toast (breakfast only) – dishes quite hard to find in England let alone good quality versions of them.
We got the Hainanese Chicken Rice from here. And we were not disappointed. It is still not as good as the one I had in Malaysia (one of the best meals I’ve ever had), but it’s probably the best we’ve had here in England (better than the only other place we’ve had it at so far – Rasa Sayang). I do wish the chicken came out boneless though as it was quite fiddly to eat. Aside from the food, we loved the logo – has to be one of the best logos in town. The interior had a regal Malaysian restaurant feel to it (quite the opposite to the more rustic and charming Normah). A nice place you can take the whole family.
Warung Putera Puteri By Malay Fellas
We didn’t visit these guys, but saw them en route to Med Salleh. It is a small cafe/bakery type spot that does some Malaysian classic dishes, but it seems like they’re more known for the Malaysian desserts/sweets – Kuih. Next time.
Duck and Noodle
Duck and Noodle is a rare occurrence. An authentic Chinese restaurant with some proper authentic Chinese dishes including their famous Peking Duck that is fully Halal? Nah, I’ve not seen too many of these around in this country. They’ve got a massive menu with numerous different noodle dishes including dry ones and broth ones, they’ve got dim sum, they’ve got roast meat with rice dishes and of course their famous Peking Duck dish, which is the national dish of China (or Beijing at least). Check out their full menu here.
I’ve had Peking Duck in Peking itself (i.e. Beijing) and I really wasn’t a fan, so I wasn’t too keen on trying it again here. I still would’ve though as it is something hard to find halal, but by the time we got here we were very very full. We opted for Stir Fried Hor Fun Noodles and Steam Custard Bun. We were impressed with both. The noodles were flavoursome and smoky. The custard buns were light, fluffy and sweet. Perfect.
Horapha Thai Cuisine
It is only fitting that we cover Thai food in this round up, right? Not to worry, Queensway – Bayswater also has Halal Thai options. We actually didn’t visit this place, but did notice it on our way to Duck and Noodle. Upon doing further research, we’ve discovered it is halal. So, if Thai food is your thing, hit them up!
The Whale Tea
This is now heading back towards Queensway Market and station. Right outside the market you’ll see The Whale. Now, one thing this area cannot match is the hundreds of bubble tea spots available to you in Chinatown. It seems like there’s a new one opening every month! Here, there’s only a couple and in our opinion one that is truly noteworthy and special. And that is The Whale Tea. Thankfully, we don’t need the numerous options of Chinatown as this one is quite possibly one of the best in town. Their Flaming Whale drink is one of the best brown sugar bubble tea drinks we’ve had in the city. And their new kiwi cheese tea is our favourite cheese tea in London.
Other non-Chinese options
Halal foodies from a particular part of the world tend to struggle with food if its not a particular type: burgers, Indian and kebabs. So, we’ve got a couple of different options for you if Chinese/Malaysian/Thai is not your thing. Abu Maher in the Queensway Market is a quaint little Syrian spot that does authentic Syrian food (one of the best cuisines in the world!). And the second recommendation is Taza, right outside the market. They do arguably the best shawarma in London (but Cafe Helen on Edgware Road is still our number one!).
The prayer. The prayer.
Halalxplorers when out and about of course will need to pray. It can be a chore finding a mosque or prayer place to pray in, but thankfully here in London’s Halal Chinatown (yeah we’re going with it), there is a very easily accessible prayer place for both men and women. Where? Right inside the aforementioned Queensway Market.
