Islam Food

I have come here twice now. It NEVER disappoints.
Although I look like a local and may talk similarly to a local, I am a foreigner. However, the staff here are extremely friendly, and the food is amazing. When I came here last month, it looked exactly the same as it did when I came here a little over two years ago.
They have several menus in English and with pictures. Of course, their main dishes are their beef potstickers, the veal goulash, the beef samosas, the soup dumplings, and the spicy fried rice.
Now, I know there are other dishes that you should also order or try, but those five above are what you NEED to order when you come here.
However, you should be prepared to squeeze in tight or share a table. When it gets busy, and it does later into the evening, they will try to seat everyone, in every seat as they can.

I absolutely loved the beef potstickers and veal goulash here. I can probably eat them every day. Imagine a juicy and plump soup dumpling, now multiply the amount of drool in your mouth by ten. They’re THAT good.
We also had their curry beef. It was a little too spicy for me but everyone around me loved it.
I’m not sure if Islam Food is halal but it seems to be very popular among locals AND tourists. For a good reason.
Note: bring lots of napkins. Not only will you need it to wipe your mouth (like most other HK places, they don’t provide them) but also to blow your nose after trying the curry.

Everything was delicious!!! I had no idea what to expect and what exactly was Islam about it but, so glad I gave this place a try.
16 reviews reflect well the foods quality!

yummy food and yummy curry. typical HK restaurant size, not comfy siting there long.

Years ago, this was a dirty dive, but they’ve improved. The place is remodeled, it’s bigger, and cleaner. Islam Food serves the best Beef Goulash and Beef Samosas in the world! They also serve a top quality scallion pancake and beef curry. The Beef Goulash is a beef patty inside a pastry outside. The beef is floating in a mouthful of hot beef soup. It is very flavorful, crazy juicy and savory. The beef samosas have a very crispy multilayered outer shell. Yum! The curry beef is not as tender as their curry lamb. Both are very rich, complex, spicy, and strongly flavorful curries. They are not creamy, sweet curries like the Japanese stuff. This is the real deal. The scallion pancakes are perfect for dipping in the curry to eat. It is multilayered in crazy crispy layers. You will dream of this meal for many nights to come and plan your next trip there.
The service is average Hong Kong service, quick and brusque. The food is made from scratch to order, so it may take 15 to 20 minutes to prepare. English menu available.
Beware of the fake «Islam Food» 50 yards away from this store. Match the photos I took and the address carefully before entering. The fake «Islam Food» is 99% the same in looks as the real deal, but the food is not as good!
It is definitely worth going out of your way to eat here.
P. S. I got a business card from them, and I just noticed that there’s two addresses on the business card, so the 2^nd location is not a «fake» Islam Food, but their 2^nd location. However, the same admonition applies to avoid the 2^nd location on Tak Ku Ling Road because for some reason, the food at the 2^nd location doesn’t taste as good.

First time I had this, I was like… taken back at how juicy that beef bun was.
It was goooood. We got it to-​go, so the next time we visited HK we decided to sit down and order. Customer service here isn’t exactly first class here, but I know better than to expect that. We ordered curry (I don’t remember what kind), and it was pretty good. Ordered the beef bun as well but wasn’t as juicy as I remembered. Maybe it was an off day. But this place i worth a try if you’re in the neighborhood!

My mother has been raving about the «Chinese Hamburger» at this place for a while and saying how it was better than A & J in Los Angeles, so we finally got to try it today.
For those who don’t know what the fuck I am talking about, the «Chinese Hamburger» which is referred to as the «beef bun» is a beef patty cooked inside a Chinese bun with a LOT of juice/​soup inside.
A & J or Half Acre Garden (a restaurant chain originated from Taipei and now with branches in U.S. southern california and Virginia/​Maryland) is famous for this Chinese Hamburger. I had my first taste of this when I first immigrated to U.S. and has been in love with it ever since. Fuck, I started a «foodie» group for a local branch of an «organization that shall not be named» because I was so inspired by this restaurant so I could introduce awesome dishes like this to non-​Chinese!
We tried the curry beef brisket noodle soup, beef brisket and glass noodles soup, «Chinese Hamburger», samosas. I was not overly impressed, most of the food ranges from passable to fairly good.
The curry beef brisket was not spicy, though you can add chili oil to make it so, I prefer my curry to come with some kick.
The beef brisket in the glass noodles soup was fairly tasteless, probably because all the flavour has been cooked into the soup. The soup however, was pretty tasty and I always liked glass noodles.
The Samosas was crispy on the outer 3 layers of wrapping, but the inner 2 were kindof raw. Not impressed by the curry filling. I probably made a mistake here and should have ordered the scallion pancake.
The beef bun was also quite good, but nowhere near as good as A&J. Here is why: (1) it is not as hot as A&J’s, it is still fairly hot but a really good chinese hamburger needs to come almost scalding hot! (2) the soup/​juice had too much soy sauce in it, the flavour from the beef patty itself should have been enough, there is no need to overpower the filling with soy sauce. (3) The bottom of the bun was not crispy enough. STILL, I was surprised to have a chinese hamburger of this quality in Hong Kong and have to commend them on a good effort.
Oh, the service is pretty fuckin’ bad, the old maid in her menopausal age has a real bad temper and is rude & surly all around. The 2 younger ladies are much better. I probably would have been generous and given them 4 stars because they are so cheap and I like to award good deals, but the bbbbeeeeeeaaaaaaatttttcccchhh fucked it up for them. Too bad.

Must order the beef bun! Lots of juice inside but be careful of your first bite, it might burn your throat!

I think there may be crunk juice in this bun cuz its so damn good !!!
One of my favorites of HK. The Beef bun is always made fresh, pan fried to a golden perfection ! It’s always perfectly crispy while nice and juicy inside.
If you’re into soup dumplings, this juicy beef bun will only rock your socks even more.
ALso worth mentioning is their legendary Lamb Curry !! I always see other tables at least ordering some beef buns and curry.

The service of this restaurant is basic, but we didn’t come here for the service, we only came for the food!!! The curry was tasty and the brisket melted in our mouths.
The star of the menu is obviously the curry, but the pancakes and the dumplings are also tasty. It is a bit out of the way, away from the normal tourist traps, but it is worthy for the short bus ride there.
A little hint, try to get there just before or after lunch time, it is always packed with local then.

I think maybe relationships have a finite lifespan. Perhaps with him, 7 years was the maximum we could be together (introduced him in my Changi Airport T2 review). Any longer, the ending could have been less than amicable.
During our 7 years together, we travelled to see each other every 4 months (staggered) so that we end up seeing each other every 2. I always end up travelling to Hong Kong in December because I then have a break from teaching and it was my birthday month. Hong Kong was a place to take a breather and he was my birthday present.
In Hong Kong, this was my favorite restaurant. Perhaps because the winter seduced the Singapore summer heat out of me making the piping hot dishes served here extra-​delicious as it travels down my gut. Waking up the taste buds in my mouth and spreading warmth along the way.
Also, because this place is super cramped (before they opened another branch a few shops down) we have to share the table with other strangers, him and I we were squished quite closely together. I would put food in his bowl and vice versa.
And that was my birthday dinner. It was simple. But I enjoyed every minute of it.
I loved the beef curry here. It was not too hot and was supported by a strong soup stock and not too sweet. Some Malay curries tend to be too sweet and Indian curries then to be too thin but this one had character in it. The meat was tender, soaked to currilicious perfection.
The beef goulash was crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside. The skin was strong enough to hold the meat yet thin enough to not to be too overwhelming. If I ever had cancer (choy!) this would definitely be my elixir.
I have not been back to Hong Kong since we broke up. I dare not imagine stepping back into this restaurant, this little haven without him. Because deep inside, I know it will never be the same again. Even if I ordered the same beef curry and beef goulash.

If KFC does chicken right, this place does beef and mutton more than just right.
Due to some silly travel mistakes, I wound up in Kowloon city while I should be in Mong Kok; leaving the utter sense of impotent in traveling around Kowloon behind, there I saw this signpost of this well known restaurant and without much thinking, I walked straight into this Mecca of Islamic cuisine.
The problem of dining alone is that you only have limited space in your stomach while there are so many items on the menu you wanna try out; the forever dilemma of eating. In order to reduce waste while maximizing my utility, I humbly order a mutton curry and the oh-​so-​famous beef pastry only.
The curry was spicy but not too fiery. What I like most about it was that the mutton still remained a little gaminess to it; I despise mutton that is so «well-​prepared» that the flavor of the animal is totally gone, yet some people with unknown reasons do enjoy eating meat that is bland and flavorless. Indeed, i despise those people as much as I despise a piece of flavorless mutton.
I waited long before the beef pastry serve up; but boy, the wait was so worthwhile that it almost justified for the 15 – 20 min waiting period. I ordered 2 altogether. Yes, you may be appalled by my gluttony, but let me tell you, very much like the famous chips, I BET YOU CAN’T HAVE JUST ONE.
There was a strict protocol in dealing with this: first you bite off the thin crust of the pastry, then you have to wait and allow the content too cool a bit. Next you suck the flavorsome juices out before you gobble down the entire thing.
If one of the steps above is missed, I wish you best of luck; you might either stain your shirt, as the pastry does squirt a little, or burn your tongue as the juice within is so piping hot.
I shall not comment any further regarding how good the beef pastry is as you should go and find out yourself. My final piece of advice would be: Do not go alone, you will most probably need someone to share the burden and taste a greater variety of good food.

If you like curry and if you are looking for something that’s not exactly Indian curry– then this is the place to go. Islam Food has been around for some 60 years and even now you will see night after night of queues lining up to try a surprisingly small range of items (I don’t man the menu is short — but people seem to order the same thing over and over again!)
Once and again you will hear the same orders: the beef cake, lamb curry and beef brisket in curry. These top items will be a challenge for anyone who likes hot food because they don’t make any secret about it; it is that hot! The food they serve here is heavily influenced by Chinese cuisine hence you will also find items here which are probably more Shanghainese than Islamic– the hot and sour soup is an item here that should also be tried. Just make sure you order some cool drinks in advance.
The shop itself is pokey– that’s probably the only way to describe it. You sit about two inches next to a stranger as you are all made to share tables and there are no exceptions unless you and 11 friends decide to come and sit together. The service quality depends on the mood of the staff and there just seems to be chaos in how things work around here.
All the bad points aside though. you will not regret coming here to try what could only be described as an icon in the Kowloon City area.