How East London Food Culture Grew Around Historic Indian Brick Lane
Indian Brick Lane grew from the bottom up. Sylheti seamen and their families arrived first, then grocers, halal butchers and small cafés feeding garment workers. Restaurants for outsiders came later, in the 1970s and 1980s. The street’s food culture is built on that everyday supply chain, which is why it still feels lived-in rather than staged.
Most histories jump straight to the curry houses. We think that misses the interesting part: on Brick Lane, the fish, spices, cooks and customers each arrived for their own reasons.
Who were the first Bengali cooks in East London?
Long before anyone queued for a table, there were sailors. From the eighteenth century, British merchant ships hired seamen from Bengal, known as lascars, many from Sylhet in what is now north-east Bangladesh. Some were discharged in London’s docks, and a few stayed in the East End.
Galley cooking meant feeding large crews quickly from cheap staples: rice, lentils, onions, dried spices. That habit of building flavour from a few humble ingredients, and cooking in volume without losing quality, is a direct ancestor of how a busy East End kitchen runs today.
Through the early twentieth century, a handful of boarding houses and cafés near the docks fed these men rice and fish curry. They were not restaurants in any modern sense.
Why did the grocers come before the restaurants?
This is the part of Indian Brick Lane history that visitors rarely see. In the 1960s and 1970s, Sylheti men came to work in East London’s garment trade, and their wives and children followed. Families cook at home, and home cooking needs the right ingredients.
So the shops opened first. Grocers stocked mustard oil, panch phoron seeds, dried chillies and sacks of rice. Halal butchers set up. Fishmongers began selling frozen river fish from Bangladesh, such as rui and boal, alongside the hilsa that Bengalis prize above almost any other fish. Sweet shops sold mishti, the milk-based sweets that Bengali families take to every visit and celebration.
Those shops are still the street’s quiet backbone. Every Indian Restaurant in Brick Lane sits within a few minutes’ walk of a supplier that grew up feeding local kitchens. If we run short of fresh coriander on a Saturday night, the answer is down the road.
How did a working street become a dining street?
The first restaurants on the lane served the community itself: cheap, filling plates cooked in big pots for men on long shifts in the clothing workshops.
Two things changed that. The first was Britain’s growing appetite for curry, fed largely by Bangladeshi cooks opening “Indian” restaurants nationwide. The second was the community putting down roots. In May 1978, a young textile worker named Altab Ali was murdered in a racist attack near Brick Lane. The protests that followed became a turning point for the Bengali community in the East End, which organised, stood its ground and made the area visibly its own. The small park where he was killed was later renamed Altab Ali Park. A community that feels it belongs invests in shopfronts, and shopfronts become restaurants.
By the late 1980s the clothing trade was shrinking, rents were low, and the old garment workshops and cafés turned into dining rooms aimed at office workers from the City and visitors from across London.
When did “Banglatown” become a destination?
In the 1990s the name Banglatown came into common use, and street signs on Brick Lane gained Bengali script alongside English. The name was later used for the local electoral ward, Spitalfields and Banglatown.
The Old Truman Brewery, which stopped brewing in 1989, reopened as markets and studios, Spitalfields Market drew weekend crowds, and the late-night curry after a night out in Shoreditch became a London ritual. Here is how the layers built up.
| Period | Who arrived or changed | What it added to the food culture | Where you can still see it
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 18th–19th century | Sylheti seamen (lascars) | Large-batch, spice-led cooking from humble staples | The pace and economy of a busy curry kitchen |
| Early–mid 20th century | Boarding houses and cafés near the docks | Home food for Bengali men far from home | Simple rice, dhal and fish curry plates |
| 1960s–1970s | Families joining garment workers | Grocers, halal butchers, fishmongers, sweet shops | The shops along and behind the lane |
| 1970s–1980s | Community roots, wider British curry boom | Restaurants serving outsiders as well as locals | The classic curry house menu |
| 1990s | Banglatown name, markets, nightlife | Brick Lane as a destination | Late dining, weekend crowds |
| 2010s onwards | Shoreditch creative scene, plant-based diners | Regional Bengali dishes, dedicated vegan cooking | Menus that go beyond the old template |
Why does Brick Lane food taste different from curry elsewhere?
The British curry house template, with its korma-to-vindaloo ladder, was written largely by Bangladeshi cooks for British customers. But the home cooking that fed the community was always something else: lighter, sourer, heavy on fish, vegetables and mustard.
Whole spices are tempered in hot oil at the start, a step Bengalis call phoron; you wait for mustard seeds to crackle, usually 20 to 30 seconds, before anything else goes in. Mustard oil is heated until it just smokes to soften its raw pungency. Fish is rubbed with turmeric and salt and fried briefly before it meets a sauce, which firms the flesh so it does not fall apart in the pot.
Chef Niaz’s cooking at City Spice carries that Bengali twist. When we cook a dish that was born on the British curry house menu, we still bring those habits to it: the tempering, the attention to sourness, the restraint with cream.
How is Indian Brick Lane changing now?
The newest layer comes from two directions. Shoreditch’s creative crowd wants food with a point of view, and a growing number of diners eat little or no meat and dairy.
Both pushed kitchens back towards Bengali home food, which is largely vegetable-led already. At City Spice, Michelin-inspired chef Rupert Rowley worked with Chef Niaz to create a dedicated vegan curry menu, with dishes such as Chowle Achar, aubergine dhal, Shobji Kufta Bhujon and the thali-style Shahi Sahakari platter. It is not a trend bolted on; it is home cooking given a proper stage.
We also use the tandoor for vegetables as well as meat.
How should you explore Brick Lane’s food culture today?
If you are standing near Liverpool Street searching for Indian food near me, a walk up the lane is worth more than the nearest result. A few suggestions from people who cook here every day:
- Start at the grocers. Look at the fish freezers, the spice sacks and the mustard oil. It tells you what local kitchens actually cook with.
- Look up at the Brick Lane Jamme Masjid on the corner of Fournier Street. Built in the 1740s as a Huguenot chapel, it later became a Methodist chapel and a synagogue, and has been a mosque since the 1970s. One building, the whole history of the street.
- Read the menu for Bengali clues. Mustard, panch phoron, river fish, bitter greens and sour notes suggest a kitchen cooking from its roots.
- Ask what the kitchen is proud of. Staff in a family-run place will usually tell you straight.
Key Takeaways
- Indian Brick Lane grew from Sylheti seamen, garment workers and their families long before it became a dining destination.
- Grocers, halal butchers and fishmongers came before restaurants and still supply the street.
- The 1978 murder of Altab Ali and the community’s response helped the Bengali East End claim the area as home.
- The classic curry house menu was largely created by Bangladeshi cooks; Bengali home cooking is lighter, sourer and more vegetable-led.
- Today’s kitchens, including ours, are bringing that home cooking and dedicated vegan menus forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Brick Lane famous for Indian food?
Bangladeshi families, many from Sylhet, settled here from the mid twentieth century and opened shops, cafés and later restaurants. Cheap rents, a strong community and nearby City workers made it London’s best-known curry street by the 1990s.
Are Brick Lane restaurants Indian or Bangladeshi?
Most are run by Bangladeshi families even when they call themselves Indian restaurants. Their menus usually mix British curry house classics with Bengali dishes, so you can eat both styles on one street.
What does Banglatown mean?
Banglatown is a name for the area around Brick Lane that reflects its large Bengali community. It came into common use in the 1990s and was later adopted in the name of the local electoral ward, Spitalfields and Banglatown.
What Bengali dishes should I look for on Brick Lane?
Look for fish cooked with mustard, vegetable dishes tempered with panch phoron, slow-cooked dhals and anything described as Sylheti. These are closer to what local families cook at home.
Is there a vegan Indian restaurant on Brick Lane?
Several restaurants on the street now take vegan cooking seriously. At City Spice we serve a dedicated vegan curry menu created by Chef Niaz with Michelin-inspired chef Rupert Rowley, including aubergine dhal and the thali-style Shahi Sahakari platter.
Final Thoughts
The story of Indian Brick Lane is a story of people feeding each other first and strangers second. We are proud to cook in the middle of it, with a Bengali twist that comes straight from that history. If you are walking the lane, come in, ask what Chef Niaz is cooking today, and taste where it all came from.
