Hosts planning a mixed-guest event often ask the same quiet question: if we book halal catering, will guests who do not need halal notice a difference? Having catered around 500 events in and around Richmond since 2008, our honest answer is that the changes are almost entirely upstream of the plate.
What genuinely changes
Sourcing. Meat and poultry come from trusted suppliers providing halal-certified products. That is a supply-chain decision guests do not see.
Pork is off the menu. There is no pork on our menu at all. In an Indian and Bangladeshi context this removes almost nothing, because the cuisine is not built on it.
Alcohol is not used as an ingredient. No wine reductions, no beer batter. Dishes that would normally lean on alcohol for depth get there through spicing and slow cooking instead.
One thing worth being clear about: halal catering does not automatically mean a dry event. Whether alcohol is served at your event is a decision between you and your venue, not something our menu dictates.
What does not change
Range. Bengali and North Indian cooking rests on lamb, chicken, fish, paneer, lentils and vegetables — all of which sit comfortably inside a halal menu. The dish list on our menu page is not a reduced version of anything.
Technique and presentation. The tandoor, the spicing, the buffet presentation in silver or copper chafing units — identical.
Price. Our tiers are Bronze £25, Silver £35, Gold £45 and Platinum £60 per head, and they do not move depending on how the guest list breaks down. There is no "halal surcharge" in our pricing, and you should query one if you see it elsewhere.
What guests actually comment on
In our experience, guests remark on three things at a mixed event, and none of them is halal sourcing: whether the food is still hot at the back of the queue, whether the vegetarian options were an afterthought, and whether there was enough. Those are service and planning questions.
Dish count is the lever. Bronze includes 1 starter, 2 mains and 1 side; Silver 2/3/2; Gold 3/4/3; Platinum 4/5/4. For a genuinely mixed room — spice-averse colleagues, vegetarian relatives, teenagers — Silver upward is where nobody feels catered around.
Three steps that answer almost every guest question
- Label everything. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and spice level, visible without asking a member of staff.
- Give the plant-based section real weight. Not one token curry. Our vegetarian and vegan menus exist as a full section for a reason.
- Tell the venue and guests whether the event is dry. Ambiguity here causes more awkwardness than the food ever does.
Being straight about certification
Our meat and poultry come from trusted suppliers providing halal-certified products, but Jaflong itself is not independently HMC-certified. If a guest or family member requires a particular certification standard, contact us before ordering and we will tell you exactly what we can evidence. Separately, our Food Standards Agency hygiene rating is 5 — inspected 25 March 2025 at 16 Ashburnham Road — and you can verify that yourself.
Planning a mixed event
Read the fuller picture on halal catering in London, or compare tiers on the pricing page. Allergen information is available on request; our kitchen handles multiple allergens, so an allergen-free environment cannot be guaranteed.
Next steps: browse the full catering menu, check package prices per head, build a quote with your date and guest count, or send an enquiry. We cater across Richmond, Twickenham, Kingston upon Thames and every area we serve.
Written by the Jaflong Tandoori catering team, family-run in Richmond since 2008 and led by owner Syed Bashar. Last reviewed September 2026.