Brick Lane curry: Sheba, Aladin, Tayyabs and where to go

For a curry on Brick Lane, go to Sheba at 136 Brick Lane, which has been there since 1974, opens noon to midnight every day and lets you bring your own bottle as well as running a full bar. For the best curry near Brick Lane, walk ten minutes south to Tayyabs on Fieldgate Street in Whitechapel, which has done Punjabi lamb chops since 1972 and is still bring-your-own. Between them sits the stretch of E1 that gave Britain its idea of a curry house, and a lot of restaurants competing for the same passing trade.

Why Brick Lane means curry

The street is the heart of the UK's Bangladeshi community. Wikipedia's history of Brick Lane traces how families from the Greater Sylhet region settled here in the 20th century and shaped British Bangladeshi cooking. The area was branded Banglatown in 1997, and in 2002 the local electoral ward was renamed Spitalfields and Banglatown. The Brick Lane mosque tells the same story in one building: a church, then a synagogue, then from 1976 the London Jamme Masjid.

What that means for dinner is a strip of curry houses along the southern half of the street, many with someone on the pavement offering a discount to come in. The good ones do not need to. Pick by name, not by the offer, and you will eat well.

Sheba, 136 Brick Lane

Sheba opened in 1974 and is open seven days a week, bank holidays included, from 12pm to 12am. It has a fully licensed bar but also allows you to bring your own; check the terms of any online offer, as some exclude BYO. It has a shelf of awards to point to, including Best Curry House in the UK 2015 from Pat Chapman's Cobra Good Curry Guide and East London Chef of the Year 2018. It is the safe, consistent choice on the street, and the late finish makes it the one to remember after a night out.

Aladin, 132 Brick Lane

A few doors along, Aladin is one of the longest-standing names on the strip, and it still runs its own site for collection and delivery. The council's eating guide describes it as Bangladeshi home-style cooking and singles out pan-fried Bangladeshi fish as its speciality. Order the fish rather than the usual tikka masala and you get closer to what the community actually eats.

Tayyabs, Fieldgate Street

It is not on Brick Lane, and it is not Bangladeshi, but it is the answer half of east London gives when asked where to get a curry near Brick Lane. Tayyabs at 83-89 Fieldgate Street has been family owned and run since 1972 and cooks Punjabi food. The lamb chops arrive sizzling and are the reason to go; the dry meat, the karahi chicken and the tarka dhal are the supporting cast. It is open seven days a week, and you can bring your own bottle. It takes bookings, which is worth doing on a weekend.

Dishoom, Boundary Street

At the other end of the scale, Dishoom at 7 Boundary Street, E2, is a chain, but a good one, cooking Bombay cafe food rather than curry-house standards. It is open all day, every day, from 8am on weekdays, which makes it the place for a breakfast naan roll before a Brick Lane walk or a late dinner after one. It is a five-minute walk from the top of Brick Lane.

The Brick Lane Curry Festival

The festival came back in 2025 after a nine-year gap and ran again this year. Tower Hamlets Council, the Bangla Town Business Association and the Brick Lane Community Forum staged it on Sunday 20 September 2026, with a procession from Allen Gardens down Brick Lane and restaurants serving regional and speciality dishes from stalls on the street. Watch for next year's date in the summer.

How to do it

Ignore the pavement offers. Choose your restaurant before you arrive.
Bring a bottle. Sheba and Tayyabs both let you; check before you go anywhere else.
Order the regional dishes. Fish, bhuna and the specials list are where Brick Lane kitchens show what they can do.
Book Tayyabs rather than chancing a walk-in on a Friday or Saturday.
Finish with a beigel. Beigel Bake at the north end of Brick Lane is open 24 hours. See our Brick Lane bagels guide.

Getting there

Aldgate East is the nearest Tube station to the southern end of Brick Lane, and Shoreditch High Street is near the northern end. Tayyabs is a short walk from Whitechapel and Aldgate East. For the rest of the area, start with our guides to the best restaurants in Shoreditch and cheap eats.