LONDON: As the sun sets over London’s Edgware Road during Ramadan, the UK capital’s famously Middle Eastern district bursts into life.
On the street’s busiest stretch, just off Marble Arch, the air is thick with cardamom and cumin as Ayman Al-Zubaidi cooks up comforting chicken seelag, slow-roasted lamb haneeth and delicate, flaky samboosek, using family recipes honed over decades.
This is Hijazi Corner, London’s only Saudi restaurant, where some of the city’s 1.3 million Muslims will break their fast during the Holy Month.
The restaurant, lined with thick carpets and ornate window panelling evoking the buildings of Jeddah’s Al-Balad historical district, is the only place in the UK capital where Saudis can find a taste of home this Ramadan.
Al-Zubaidi, who opened the restaurant in 2023 after seeing major word-of-mouth success among friends who ordered his dishes through Snapchat and Instagram, says he already has tables booked for the whole of March — with a roaring takeaway trade also keeping the kitchen busy.
“Lots of people want to eat here during Ramadan, and it’s not just Saudis,” he told Arab News.
The chef, who grew up in Jeddah before moving to the UK, shared his surprise at one of his earliest customers being English and turning up wearing a traditional thobe with his elderly parents and 15 friends in tow.
“He had explored towns and villages across Saudi Arabia and wanted to share our cuisine with all these people,” Al Zubaidi explained.
The restaurant owner said he expects that multicultural spirit to continue throughout Ramadan, when Muslims in London will break their fast between 6 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. for the first two weeks — although a change in the clocks for British Summer Time means iftar time will be pushed forward by an hour on the final day of March.
“When I first moved to the UK it was challenging because of the long summer nights,” he said. “We were sometimes fasting for 18 hours a day. But as the calendar moves back towards winter time, we are getting used to it.
Across town at Villa Mamas, the home-style Bahraini restaurant launched in Chelsea by chef Roaya Saleh in 2017, the dining room will be closed until iftar time during weekdays, but will be open all day as normal at the weekend to cater for those who are not fasting.
Vladislav Potehin, the restaurant’s deputy general manager, said he expects a busy brunch trade as usual on the weekends, with signature dishes like chicken tagine and muhallabia ever popular among locals who reserve tables weeks in advance.
Cultural understanding of the Holy Month in the UK capital has grown in recent years, with colourful lights wishing visitors a “Happy Ramadan” draped across the city’s West End for the second year in a row.
According to Layla Hassanali, the founder of Halal Girl About Town, a website dedicated to finding the best halal restaurants in London, restaurants have adapted their offerings too.
“A decade ago, the trend was to have food at home with your family and going out wasn’t really the done thing,” she said.
“Over the years it’s gone from only halal restaurants offering a date to break your fast to restaurants going out of their way to provide a whole iftar menu during Ramadan.
“Restaurant owners across the board are finally acknowledging the large Muslim population in London and that’s something that’s great to see,” Hassanali added.
