London’s Most Detailed Halal Statement Belongs to a Burger Chain

The most detailed halal disclosure of any restaurant checked for this page belongs to a burger chain that is not halal.

Bleecker publishes which branches serve halal beef, who the butcher is, whether the animals were stunned, how the grill is cleaned, and where to see the certificate. It also says plainly that none of its restaurants is fully halal, because it sells bacon and alcohol.

Meanwhile Tayyabs, which appears on essentially every halal list in London, does not use the word anywhere on its own website.

That gap is the problem with this category. The lists tell you where to go. Almost none of them tell you what you are actually getting, and the answer varies far more than a single word suggests.

The five questions a halal listing should answer

These are the things that differ from restaurant to restaurant, and the things a one word label hides.

Is the whole restaurant halal, or only some of the meat? A kitchen can serve halal beef and still pour wine and cook bacon.

Which branches? Chains frequently do it at some sites and not others, usually because of supply.

Was the animal stunned before slaughter? Practice differs and so does what people accept. Some require non stunned meat, others are content with stunned. It is the single most consequential detail and the one most often left out.

Who certified it? A named certifier can be checked. An unsourced claim cannot.

What stops cross contamination? Shared grills, shared fryers and shared utensils are the practical risk in any kitchen that also serves non halal food.

Very few London restaurants answer all five. One does.

The one that answers everything

Bleecker

Halal beef at five sites: Westfield, Baker Street, Soho, Victoria and Camden. At every other Bleecker location the beef is not halal, and they say so in one sentence.

The butcher is named: Aubrey Allen, described as the same butcher they have used for a long time, supplying halal certified beef.

The beef is stunned before slaughter, including the halal beef. They publish this directly in answer to the question. Whether that suits you is a matter for you, but you are told before you go, which is the point.

No Bleecker restaurant is fully halal. Their own answer to the question is simply no, because they sell pork and alcohol. The bacon is described as a non halal pork product.

The cross contamination process is published in detail. Bacon is cooked on the grill before service begins. Once it is done the bacon is set aside, the grill is shut down completely and taken through a full clean and sanitisation. After that point no bacon is cooked again for the rest of the day, and only halal beef goes on the grill during service, with separate dedicated utensils and trained staff.

The certificate is available on request through their site.

Whatever you make of stunned meat or of eating in a room that serves alcohol, that is five straight answers to five awkward questions. The best burger in London covers the food itself, and what it costs is about £18.25 for a burger, fries and a drink.

The one that is halal all the way through

The Great Chase, Islington Square

It now describes itself as halal fine dining with an alcohol free bar, high welfare and fully halal, having dropped the premier destination wording it used before. Either way the point stands: unlike the above it is the whole restaurant rather than one ingredient. It opens Tuesday 5.30pm to 9pm, Wednesday to Friday to 10pm, Saturday from midday to 10pm, and Sunday midday to 9pm for roasts only.

The entire restaurant is alcohol free, which it presents as a deliberate position rather than an absence. The drinks list is built on rare teas and botanical infusions designed for pairing, which is a genuinely different proposition from a restaurant that simply has no licence.

It states that every meat product is sourced with zero risk of cross contamination.

The food is modern British rather than the cuisines this category usually implies: Sunday roasts, binchotan grilled steak and beef Wellington.

What it does not publish is the stunning method or the name of a certifier. That is worth saying plainly and without criticism: even the restaurant that puts halal at the centre of its identity leaves two of the five questions unanswered on its website. If either matters to you, ask when you book.

The one that is on every list and does not say it

Tayyabs, Whitechapel

Tayyabs has been on Fieldgate Street since 1972, family owned and run, serving Punjabi food in London’s east end, and it is named in almost every halal roundup of this city. It opens midday to half eleven at night.

The word halal does not appear on its homepage. The site describes the dry meat, the mixed grill, the lamb chops and the karahi, gives the address at 83 to 89 Fieldgate Street and a telephone number, and leaves the question entirely alone.

That is not a criticism of the restaurant, which has been doing the same thing for more than fifty years and presumably feels it does not need to explain itself in E1. It is a criticism of every guide that lists it under a halal heading without noting that the claim is theirs and not the restaurant’s.

One practical detail their site does publish: bring your own bottle. There is no alcohol licence, so the wine is whatever you carry in, which for many diners is the more relevant fact anyway.

How to check a restaurant yourself

Look for a dedicated page, not a mention. A restaurant that takes this seriously usually has a halal page. Bleecker has one at a predictable address and it answers everything.

Treat a listing site as a lead, not an answer. Aggregators and Instagram accounts are where most people start, and neither is the restaurant speaking.

Ask about the branch, not the brand. Five of Bleecker’s sites serve halal beef and the rest do not. Assuming a chain is consistent is the most common way to get this wrong.

If stunning matters to you, assume nothing. Most restaurants do not publish it. The ones that do are unusual, and silence is not an answer either way.

What to know

Halal is not one thing. Whole restaurant, some of the meat, or one ingredient at some branches are three very different offers.

Bleecker: halal beef at Westfield, Baker Street, Soho, Victoria and Camden only. Stunned, certified, Aubrey Allen, and not a fully halal restaurant.

The Great Chase: fully halal and entirely alcohol free, in Islington Square, doing modern British food.

Tayyabs: on every list, says nothing about it, and is bring your own bottle.

Ask five questions when you book: whole restaurant or partial, which branch, stunned or not, certified by whom, and what separates it from the non halal food.

Everything here was taken from each restaurant’s own published pages and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Nothing is listed as halal on this page unless the restaurant says so itself, and where a restaurant does not address a question that absence is stated rather than filled in. Suppliers and certification change, so confirm directly before you rely on it.

Where to go next

The best Indian restaurants, Lebanese and Turkish cover the cuisines this category most often overlaps with, judged on the cooking rather than the label.

The best burger in London covers the Bleecker argument, and cheap eats prices it at £18.25 for a burger, fries and a drink.

The best Sunday roast and the steak restaurants are the two things The Great Chase is doing that nobody expects from a halal kitchen.

The best restaurants in London is the wider list, and the food markets are where the cheapest version of all of this happens.

Questions we get asked

What are the best halal restaurants in London?

It depends what you mean by halal, which is the whole difficulty. The Great Chase in Islington Square is fully halal and entirely alcohol free, doing modern British food including Sunday roasts and beef Wellington. Bleecker serves halal certified beef at five of its sites, though no Bleecker is a fully halal restaurant because it also sells bacon and alcohol. Tayyabs in Whitechapel is named on every list, but does not use the word on its own website.

Is Bleecker Burger halal?

The beef is halal at five locations: Westfield, Baker Street, Soho, Victoria and Camden. At all other Bleecker sites it is not. No Bleecker restaurant is fully halal, because they sell pork and alcohol. The beef comes from Aubrey Allen, is stunned before slaughter, and certification is available through their site. They publish a detailed grill cleaning process to prevent cross contamination with bacon.

Which London restaurants are fully halal?

The Great Chase in Islington Square describes itself as 100 per cent halal and is strictly alcohol free throughout, serving rare teas and botanical infusions in place of a wine list. Fully halal is rarer than the listings suggest, because many places described as halal serve halal meat inside a restaurant that also sells alcohol or pork. Always check whether the claim covers the restaurant or only the meat.

Is halal meat in London stunned or non-stunned?

It varies by restaurant and most do not publish it, which is why it is worth asking directly. Bleecker states that all its beef, including the halal beef, is stunned before slaughter. The Great Chase does not address stunning on its website. Practice and preference differ, with some diners requiring non stunned meat and others content with stunned, so the absence of a statement is not an answer either way.

Is Tayyabs halal?

Tayyabs does not say so on its own website, which describes the Punjabi menu, the Fieldgate Street address and the history since 1972 without addressing the question. It appears under halal headings on almost every London list, but that claim comes from the guides rather than the restaurant. Its site does confirm that Tayyabs is bring your own bottle, as there is no alcohol licence.

How do I check whether a London restaurant is really halal?

Look for a dedicated halal page on the restaurant’s own website rather than a mention on a listing site, and check the branch rather than the brand, since chains often serve halal meat at some sites and not others. Ask five things: whether the whole restaurant is halal or only the meat, which branch, whether the animal was stunned, who certified it, and what prevents cross contamination in a shared kitchen.