An exploration of halal Hong Kong.
Halal food is becoming more visible in Hong Kong. But for the city’s 300,000-strong Muslim community, it’s about far more than what’s on the plate.
Talha, who was born in Pakistan, is winding his way through the side streets and markets of Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district. He knows exactly where to go for halal beef, where to find Malaysian snacks, which butchers follow the proper slaughtering methods mandated by his religion. He moves through the city with ease. But it wasn’t always like this.
When he first arrived here in 2008, fourteen years old and homesick, eating out meant going to McDonald’s— with the only option on the menu being the fish fillet burger. Halal restaurants were rare and often expensive, mostly clustered around places like Chungking Mansions, a well known gathering place for the city’s newest ethnic minority arrivals. “There are small mosques in nearly every district in Hong Kong now,” Talha says. And these modest prayer spaces are more than just places to worship, he explains: people often end up swapping tips on where to buy the right ingredients in the city’s wet markets.
This article in Ming Pao Weekly starts with food—but gradually it unfolds into something wider: a quiet, steady call for greater cultural sensitivity and inclusion in a city that prides itself on being international. Hong Kong is home to a longstanding yet often under-acknowledged Muslim population. Exploring its butchers, grocery stores, restaurants, and daily rituals, the city’s expanding halal network reveals a deeper story—one about visibility, faith, and the everyday negotiations of belonging.
Talha now works for the Zubin Foundation, a charity that supports ethnic minority communities in Hong Kong. He mentors Muslim youth and speaks publicly about representation. He also knows, from experience, how easy it is to feel excluded. Even a dinner invitation from a non-Muslim friend requires caution. Halal isn’t just about avoiding pork—it’s about how animals are slaughtered, and whether kitchen tools are shared with non-halal food. A small misunderstanding can mean an entire meal is off-limits.
At the market, Talha stops by ZESHAN Meat Co. and a neighboring butcher, The Seventh Kee (七記). Both offer halal meat, with one specialising in freshly slaughtered cuts, the other in frozen products. The butchers greet him like family. Tea is offered (gently declined, this time). “Among Muslims,” Talha explains, “sharing food means sharing love.” “If we cook too much, we share it with neighbours, or feed it to animals. Nothing is wasted.” It’s a culture of generosity, he explains, that helps strengthen bonds within the community
From meat markets to mini-marts, the halal economy in Hong Kong is quietly growing. Talha shops at My Mart, a newer store focused on Malaysian goods, and AliBaba, an older grocery selling everything from Indian vegetables to Middle East snacks to shampoo. Certification is key. “I always ask for proof,” he says: “even if they say it’s halal.”
At the Ammar Mosque and Osman Ramju Sadick Islamic Centre, the article turns to the case of Imam Uthman Yang, a central figure in Hong Kong’s halal certification efforts. Born in Shandong, educated in Pakistan and Egypt, Yang has been in Hong Kong since 1993. Aware that dining out was a daily challenge for many local Muslims, he supported the creation of the mosque’s halal restaurant.
But when friends from Malaysia visited, they hesitated to even eat dim sum there, worried about “cross-contamination” in a non-Muslim region. That moment pushed him to formalise the halal certification system in Hong Kong. (Translator notes that the Hong Kong International Halal Certification Center was established only in 2017.)
Yang acknowledges the complexities of halal certification in a city like Hong Kong, where space is scarce and compromises are often necessary. “Even when a restaurant serves fully halal dishes,” he says, “people complain if they see alcohol—‘Why would you certify a place like that?’” He responds with patience, emphasising the need to balance religious standards with respect for the city’s diversity and the need for businesses to reflect the spectrum of customer demands.
To accommodate this, Hong Kong’s certification system includes three tiers: Halal Restaurant, Halal Kitchen Restaurant, and Halal-Friendly Restaurant. The first is the most stringent. Venues that serve alcohol but maintain a fully halal kitchen can apply for the second.
Still, mistrust lingers. Yang recalls how some restaurants used to dismiss even the idea of certification—“Our staff are Muslim, isn’t that enough?”—but later came around once they saw clients opting for certified venues over non-certified ones.
Not every iconic halal restaurant in town is certified yet; some, like the longstanding Wai Kee (惠記) in Wan Chai or Islam Food (清真牛肉館) in Kowloon City, rely on reputation and loyal customers. But the trend is clear: halal, much of it officially sanctioned, is no longer a niche.
In just the last couple of years, Talha notes, halal restaurants and grocery stores have blossomed across the city. Now even Disneyland offers halal meals, and the Kowloon Shangri-La has a halal buffet. “For most Hongkongers, a day at a theme park or a hotel buffet is nothing special, but for us, it’s something new and exciting.”
And with this trend, Talha hopes, grows mutual understanding. “Food connects people,” he says. “When Hongkongers walk into a halal restaurant, they meet us—face to face. That’s better than reading about us online.”
Yang sees progress, too; but injects a note of caution. “There still aren’t enough halal restaurants,” he says. “If we could have more dishes from northeast China or Xinjiang, that would be great. In the West, halal is becoming popular even outside the community. It’s cleaner. It’s ethical.”
Let’s hope that one day, both Talha’s and Yang’s hopes—for deeper trust, wider visibility, and fuller plates on the table—can be fully realised in Hong Kong.
KLT
The original article by 鍾琰 (Chung Tam), 香港穆斯林的飲食生活，不離快餐魚柳包？楊興本教長：「清真餐廳數量未夠！如果可以多一些東北及新疆清真菜式就好。」(For Hong Kong’s Muslims, Is It Still Just Fish Fillet Burgers? Imam Uthman Yang: “There Still Aren’t Enough Halal Restaurants—More Dishes from the Northeast or Xinjiang Would Be Great.”) was first published in Traditional Chinese on 25 March 2025.
It is available here.
Chung Tam is a Hong Kong-based journalist.
Ming Pao Weekly, founded in 1968, is one of Hong Kong’s leading general-interest magazines.
