By Nik Aisyah Safiah, MSc Management (International Business)
As an international student, coming to a university in the UK has a lot of differences! You have left behind your home country to a new place, new culture, new experience and new friends. How nerve-wracking but extremely exciting at the same time? Once you have settled in your accommodation, your mind starts to wonder about food, but not just any food. It’s food that brings you back home. If you are a Malaysian, you’ll start to hallucinate about that delicious laksa noodles your dad always buy for you after every Friday prayer.
Is food-homesickness really a thing? As a Muslim Asian student living in Sheffield, I say, fret not! You live in one of the most ethnically diverse cities with a lot of Asian restaurants that sells Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, Vietnamese, and Arabic cuisine. Alternatively, with easy access to halal meat and oriental stores in Sheffield, you could also make your own favourite dish from scratch! In this blog, I will share some of my go-to stores in Sheffield that has helped me make my everyday meals.
Ozmen Ltd (supermarket), Yafai and Sons, Al-Amir Halal Food
Located near the city campus, you can easily get halal meat from these stores, which sells chicken, beef and lamb meat. Not only that, but these stores also offer you all the Asian ingredients, spices that could help you
make a replica of your favourite dish back home! From soy sauce, chilli spices, galangal, Asian fruits, bamboo shoots, instant noodle, shrimp paste, south-east Asian instant spices, Middle Eastern instant spices. You name it! With a simple Google search of the recipe and the ingredients you can find in these stores, you will get to eat your favourite dish in no time!
Moor Market
The Moor Market is definitely the go-to place if you are looking for fresh groceries. Here, you can find a few merchants who offer fresh and imported Asian ingredients. Believe it or not, you can also get halal chicken from one of the butchers, Smith & Tissington. Top tips, you might get a reduction in price if you buy the chicken in bulk!
Tesco Express (Edward Street) & Tesco Superstore (50 Montgomery Terrace)
These Tesco stores have designated halal meat section in their chiller that sells a variety of halal meat options, including raw chicken and processed meat such as nuggets, sausages, burgers and many more.
Oriental supermarket
KH Oriental and Oriental West Street
If you are looking for Asian ingredients, snacks, sauces, instant noodles, fish cakes, seaweed, specific noodles or sushi rice, then this is the place for you! One of my personal favourite snacks that I love is mochi, seaweed and pepero sticks.
So, there you go! All the stores you need as a Muslim Asian to bring some flavours of home while living in Sheffield! With that being said, here are some pictures of my favourite Malaysian dish that my housemates and I have made a few days ago!
