China has some 25 million Muslims, spread across the whole country. On city streets you'll sometimes see a green restaurant sign carrying two Chinese characters: 清真 (qīngzhēn). This is China's halal.
The most common halal sign on Chinese streets: green with a gold frame, just the characters 清真 and its pinyin — no Arabic and no star-and-crescent. Illustration, not a specific restaurant.
Berlin has thousands of halal restaurants, and almost none of them are Chinese — yet China has a whole halal cuisine of its own, one many people have never heard of.
In Chinese cities, halal restaurants mostly hang a green sign with the two characters 清真, usually with the pinyin qīngzhēn beneath. See it, and you've found your halal.
This is unlike Berlin, where halal shops come in red, yellow, any colour, and you go by the word “Halal”, the Arabic script, or knowing the owner. China goes by this green plus two characters.
Two notes on the green
This is the one thing to know beforehand. The official halal certification you're used to in Berlin or Istanbul — mainland China has no single nationwide system for it, unlike Malaysia's JAKIM, where one body issues a certificate valid across the country.
This isn't looser than a certificate, just a different logic: you read the sign, the owner and the neighbourhood. When unsure, just ask — that's completely normal in China.
In Berlin it's the other way round: here a Chinese place can give you exactly the paper certificate you know. Chen's displays a halal certificate from its meat supplier Grünland Fleisch — beef, veal, lamb and poultry all sourced to halal standards.
The food of Xinjiang's Uyghurs is a world of its own. Sit at their table and little will feel foreign — the Silk Road carried these dishes over from Central Asia.
Zhuafan is your pilav; the skewers are kebap; manta is all but mantı. That pot of rice steamed with meat, carrot and onion belongs to one family — from Istanbul to Tashkent to Kashgar.
If this is your first taste of Chinese halal food, Uyghur is the easiest door in: flavours you know, and rules you can trust.
The other half is the more surprising one. The Hui live all across China and cook thoroughly Chinese food — Chinese techniques, Chinese flavours — but halal from start to finish. This isn't “Chinese food with the pork removed”; it's a whole Chinese cuisine that grew up inside halal rules.
A bowl of Lanzhou beef noodles: clear broth, white radish, red chilli oil, hand-pulled noodles, the beef from halal slaughter. Beijing's Niujie brings mutton hotpot, spiced beef and sesame flatbread — the everyday life of the capital. In Ningxia, guests are welcomed with eight-treasure tea: red dates, longan, goji and rock sugar in the cup, a pot topped up all morning — an old Silk Road custom of hospitality, today a local intangible cultural heritage.
Hui halal can be careful in ways you might not expect: which brand of seasoning, whether the pots have ever touched pork. For anyone who minds, that strictness is reassuring.
清真 shows up on ordinary streets in nearly every city, and supermarket shelves carry qingzhen-labelled packaged food and snacks. To eat your fill in one place, head to:
You'll eat a meal that's rich, spicy, thoroughly Chinese — and fully within the rules. For many Muslim travellers, this is China at its most hospitable.
Find beef noodles, malatang / maocai and Chinese skewers in Berlin. Each entry states its halal scope and check date: Mao Master now declares all its food halal, while Han Bites explicitly confirms halal-certified meat only.
The editor's first stop: start with a bowl of clear-broth beef noodles, then add lamb skewers, beef flatbread and chilli-oil wontons — enough to share around a table.
The flagship in Neukölln — plenty of seating, quick service. The brand bills itself as a halal hand-pulled noodle house.
The stall inside Kalle Halle — a bowl in passing while you're out in Neukölln.
Inside Manifesto Market at Potsdamer Platz — for a quick bite in the city centre.
Watch the noodles pulled by hand. The venue states its food is halal, with meat from a local Berlin halal butcher.
First time, order the signature beef noodle soup; for something dry, try the Biangbiang noodles.
Choose vegetables, tofu, noodles, meat or seafood, then your broth and spice level. The Kantstraße 50 venue has announced “ALLES IST HALAL” on its official account. This is the business’s statement covering all food, not independent halal certification.
Read the official halal announcement ↗
Over twenty kinds of Chinese skewers, plus private KTV rooms. The website states it uses halal-certified meat — but that covers the meat only, not the whole venue. A place with KTV may serve alcohol, so if you're strict, ask about other ingredients and kitchen practice first.
Updated on 5 October 2026, this guide lists eight: four Chen's Beef Noodle House branches, two Mr Noodle Chen branches, Mao Master (all food halal according to the business), and Han Bites, which states that it uses halal-certified meat. Menu-item-only, media-only, and branch-unconfirmed venues are omitted for now.
No. Alcohol, meat sourcing and slaughter, animal-derived ingredients, utensils, and cross-contact can also affect halal compliance.
No. Those names may connect to Chinese Muslim food traditions, but the current branch still needs its own merchant statement or suitable evidence.
Clear-broth beef noodles are an easy beginning. Add lamb skewers, beef dumplings, or a cold vegetable dish; on broader menus, look for pilaf, naan, samsa, paomo, or lamb.