Halal Journey in Geneve... the Halal Meat

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there are many Halal restaurants available in Geneve.  This is due to a very large Muslim community here be it expatriates, visitors or the local population.  In fact, if you walk anywhere in Geneve center, you will always encounter many Muslims especially women wearing Hijab. 

Today, I will be sharing with you where to find Halal food ingredients (later I will share about restaurants). 

Boucheries: for chicken (poulet), beef (beouf) and related products

1. Geneve centre

Fresh products in Geneve is a little bit pricey as compared to those in France.  However, just in case, you need to buy in small portion, these places are available for you to find the products.

(a) Kamel Halal Meat Sàrl, rue de Lausanne 55, 1202, Geneva , Switzerland

Opening Hours: 

Monday                  Tuesday                        Wednesday                Thursday                    Friday                            

9am-12pm; 3-7pm   9am-12pm; 3-7pm      9am-12pm; 3-7pm     9am-12pm; 3-7pm     9am-12pm; 3-7pm

Saturday          Sunday

9 am-6pm         Closed

(b) h foods Supermarket Halal, Ferrierlaan 19, 1202 Geneva

Opening Hours: 

Monday     Tuesday      Wednesday      Thursday      Friday         Saturday          Sunday

Closed   9 am-8pm    9 am-8pm         9 am-8pm     9 am-8pm   9 am-8pm  10am-8pm

I prefer to h foods as there are various types of products both fresh and frozen poulet. Also, you can find nuggets, sausage and many more by-products of meat here. Kamel is a pure boucherie so it sells mostly fresh products.

New updates:
Early 2020, when Covid19 caused borders between Swiss and France to be closed, we were badly affected as we were unable to buy fresh chicken from Ferney.  Hence, it was time to for us to explore Halal boucheries in Geneva. We have found additional places that sell Halal meat and I will list here for reference for those who are unable to cross border to France to buy meat.

 (c) Boucherie Viande Pré-Vert à Genthod (https://www.boucheriedegenthod.ch)
This place is located about 10 minutes where we live.  It's located near a farm and the meat is freshly butchered here.  Price-wise, slight expensive as per normal standard of Geneva.

Opening Hours: 

Monday to Friday:                    Saturday        

9 am- 12 pm/ 1 pm - 6 pm        8 am - 4 pm

2. Border town: Ferney-Voltaire

You can take the F bus from Gare Cornavin ( the Cornavin train station) direction to Ferney/Gex and stop at Ferney Mairie ( you have already crossed the border to France!).  Here, you have many choices to buy fresh products.

(a) La Mamounia, 4 Chemin du Levant, 01210 Ferney-Voltaire, France

Opening Hours: 

Monday     Tuesday      Wednesday      Thursday      Friday                             Saturday          Sunday

Closed   9 am-7pm    9 am-7pm         9 am-7pm     9 am-12pm, 2: 30-7pm   8:30 am-6:30pm  9 am-12:30pm

We used to buy our meat here as this place is much more nearer to our house in Versoix, From Rue de Fayards, just drive straight for 10 minutes and you will arrive here.  Parking is better here (still limited) as compared to the other boucheries.  Another thing about Mamounia, you can buy kebab from here as the shop offers boucheries and sandwicherie service next door. On top of that, they also sell roasted chicken fresh from the grill just for 10 Euro per bird! But, if you go here during weekend, the shop is very busy and they would not entertain any request to cut the poulet in small pieces.You can also find Middle Eastern food ingredients such humus, pita bread, spices etc. here.

Update@29th June 2020: Mamounia has recently undergone renovation and is much more better in terms of service and is currently using the ticket system. Don't forget to take your number upon entering the shop

(b) Al Khairat, 29 Rue de Versoix, 01210 Ferney-Voltaire, France

Opening Hours: Not Available 

Sometimes, I went to Al Khairat to buy meat here as it is better than those in La Mamounia.  Here, you can request the boucheries to cut the meat/poulet in small pieces. This shop is small but convenience as it is located just across an Asian food products, Mekong.  So, you can park your car and hope in in both shops.  As those who takes the bus F, it is just a walking distance compared to Mamounia in which you have to walk quite a bit (around 10 minutes) from the main road (Route de Ferney).

(c) Orient Express, 13 Rue de Versoix, 01210 Ferney-Voltaire, France

Opening Hours: 

Monday     Tuesday      Wednesday      Thursday      Friday                             Saturday          Sunday

Closed   9 am-7pm    9 am-7pm         9 am-7pm     9 am-12pm, 2: 30-7pm   8:30 am-6:30pm  9 am-12:30pm

I have not tried this place so I am unable to review this.  However, this boucherie is located along the same street as Al Khalifa so you might want to check this shop too.

(d) Al Madina, 16 Avenue Voltaire, 01210 Ferney-Voltaire, France

Opening Hours: 

Monday     Tuesday      Wednesday      Thursday      Friday          Saturday          Sunday

9am-9pm   9am-9pm    9am-9pm          9 am-9pm      9 am-9pm,   9 am- 8pm  9 am- 4pm

I have also not tried this place so I am unable to review this.  However, this boucherie is located just a walking distance from the small Carrefour and the bus stop. 

Don't be surprised that here in France (Ferney), you can find Halal food products in Carrefour. In fact, in Ferney, there are two Carrefour supermarche located nearby each other. As for us here, we refer this Carrefour supermarche as the small one and the big one. Not too far, around few 10 km away, there is also a bigger Carrefour supermarche near Segny.  Here, you can also find Halal products.

(e) Carrefour Market, 33 Avenue Voltaire, 01210 Ferney-Voltaire, France

Opening Hours: 

Monday             Tuesday          Wednesday      Thursday     Friday            Saturday    Sunday

830am-8pm   830am-8pm    830am-8pm       830am-8pm     830am-8pm   830am-8pm    830am -1230pm

This supermarche is located near Al Madina boucherie. The best thing about this place is that it opens on Sunday til noon. In fact, on Sunday, this place is a buzz with people shopping their groceries as not many shops open on Sunday both in Geneve and Ferney.

(f) Carrefour Supermarche, chemin De La Brunette Centre Commercial La Poterie, 01210 Ferney-Voltaire, France

Opening Hours: 

Monday             Tuesday          Wednesday      Thursday     Friday            Saturday    Sunday

830am-9pm   830am-9pm    830am-9pm       830am-9pm     830am-9pm   830am-9pm    0800 - 1200noon

This supermarche is located at a centre commercial area nearby a cinema, restaurant and some other shops. You can take the F bus and stop at Ferney-Brunette and walk around 10 minutes to the commercial centre. Here, the choices of Halal products are much more diverse compared to the small carrefour. Also, I love to buy Halal roasted chicken here fresh from oven and it costs only 8 Euro ( 2 Euro cheaper than those in La Mamounia!),  However, you need to be careful as non-Halal roasted poulet is also placed together. We don't you to grab the non-Halal roasted poulet by mistake!

3. Border town: Annemasse 

Annemasse is much further from Geneve around 30 km from Versoix.  If you stay at the other side of Geneva, it is much more nearer. However, if you want to buy large portion (in carton) of poulet, you'll come here as it is much cheaper than anywhere else. Normally, we go to Annemasse when we have function or events and we need bulk portion of poulet (normally for BBQ time, Eidulfitri and EidulAdha time).  We only went for one shop known as Yassin which is located very near to Annemasse Gare (train station).

So I am going to list the boucheries for reference only and will update the reviews as and when I have visited the places.

(a) Yassin,  7 Rue du Dr Favre, 74100 Annemasse, France

Opening Hours: 

Monday             Tuesday          Wednesday      Thursday     Friday            Saturday    Sunday

7am-730pm   7am-730pm    7am-730pm      7am-730pm      7am-730pm   7am-730pm   7am-730pm

Recently, I went to Yassin to purchase bulk food for event at the Resident. A carton (10kg)  of cuisse costs around Eur18.00. It's cheap. Beef and lamb are also cheap here... lamb leg costs only Chf13.90 per kilo while the cheapest beef costs between Eur8.90 to Eur15.90 per kilo.

(b) Supermarket Riadh Boucherie Halal, 11 Rue René Cassin, 74240 Gaillard, France

Opening Hours: 

Monday          Tuesday      Wednesday    Thursday      Friday         Saturday    Sunday

9am-8pm        9am-8pm    9am-8pm        9am-8pm     9am-8pm     9am-8pm   9am-8pm

Last year, I went to Riadh and was astounded at how cheap the poulets are... almost the same price as those in Yassin.  Here more organized and have variety of offerings. 

(c) Star Halal Butcher Shop, 26 Rue du Faucigny, 74100 Annemasse, France

Opening Hours: 

Monday          Tuesday      Wednesday    Thursday      Friday                           Saturday    Sunday

8am-8pm        8am-8pm    8am-8pm        8am-8pm     8am-12pm; 2pm-8p,     8am-8pm   8am-8pm

(d) BOUCHERIE NOUR - Boucherie Hallal Gaillard, 3 Rue de Vallard, 74240 Gaillard, France

Opening Hours: 

Monday          Tuesday      Wednesday    Thursday      Friday          Saturday    Sunday

8am-9pm        8am-9pm    8am-9pm        8am-9pm     8am-9pm,     8am-9pm   8am-9pm

So guys, there is no excuse for consuming non-Halal meats as there are many choices of Halal boucheries nearby Geneve! Until the next Halal journey.

A bientot!!

~yatiseman~