Hungry for Halaal: Our 2025 Year in Review
The top stories, posts and trends that YOU loved in 2025!
Assalamualaikum Hungry for Halaal fam! 🌙✨
What a year it’s been! From mouth-watering food pics to recipe reels that had you saving instantly — 2025 was filled with delicious discoveries and community celebration. With 44,000+ of you joining the foodie journey on Instagram alone this year, let’s take a look back at the top 10 most engaged posts and themes that got hearts, comments and saves across the feed.
1. Readers’ Choice Top 5 Halaal Restaurants 2025
The post announcing YOUR favourites across Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban was one of our most engaged this year — a true celebration of South Africa’s halaal hotspots! Followers were buzzing in the comments cheering on winners like Conscious Carnivores and Mo-ez Fusion. Check it out here.
2. Critics’ Choice Top 5 Halaal Restaurants
Just behind the readers’ votes, our Critics Choice post had massive engagement, sparking lively debates and shoutouts for local gems. Followers loved discovering spots they hadn’t tried yet — and tagging their mates for the next halal food crawl!
3. Shift Espresso Spotlight
One of the most double-taps of the year came from the post about the fully halaal Shift Espresso in the Cape Quarter — a chill crew favourite for coffee dates and catch-ups that instantly became a talking point in the feed.
4. Halaal in the Northern Suburbs
Our exploration of the expanding halaal scene in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town resonated with locals and visitors alike — proving great food is popping up everywhere!
5. Recipe Reel: Trending Lebanese Arayes
With winter coming to a close, your love for interesting home-cooked goodness done different shone through with this reel — a mashup of spice, flavour and easy tips that had tons of saves.
6. Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone (and Onto Camera!)
One of the most meaningful and engaged moments of the year wasn’t just about food — it was about growth, visibility and showing up. This Reel shared a very real behind-the-scenes moment: me stepping out of my comfort zone and becoming more visible on camera, while also announcing an exciting new partnership with the Tokit Omni Cook brand.
What made this post special was the response. The community didn’t just like it — you connected with it.
7. Travel & Halal Food Discovery Posts
From Hermanus getaways to culinary road trips, posts encouraging halal-friendly travel were among the most saved posts — proving halal food exploration is more than dinner, it’s a lifestyle! Check it out here.
8. Latest Hotspots in Jozi Highlighted
You loved finding out about the latest and upcoming openings in the City of Gold. The halaal scene in Johannesburg is pumping and you were there for it! Check it out here.
9. Local Gems Discovered
From the best Smashburgers in town to little known Crispy Chicken hot spots, our posts about hyper-local hidden gems had you liking and saving in earnest and hopefully supporting all these small food businesses.
10. Food & Culture Moments
Whether it was special classes, community events, or celebrations at halaal cafes and restaurants — posts that blended food with culture, family and celebration drove big engagement. Fans shared stories, tagged friends and turned feed posts into community memory lanes.
What You Told Us You Love Most
Here’s what the community engagement trends tell us:
– You love discovering new restaurants and voting on your favourites.
– Many of you are more interested in what your peers think than the critics.
– You save recipe reels for later cooking inspiration
– You tag friends in posts that are event & outing goals
– Competition posts = most shares (you love to get involved!)
🎉 Final Bite
2025 was a year of growth, flavours and shared experiences. From Cape Town to Jozi to Durban, our halal food family got bigger, hungrier and more adventurous together.
Thank you for every like, save, comment and share. You made this year unforgettable.
Here’s to even more halal hotspots, drool-worthy meals and delicious memories in 2026!
Stay hungry. Stay halaal.
Dilshad🧕📸
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