KUBBA by JUMA Kitchen
Kubba haleb: a rice patty fried around baharat-spiced lamb mince, eaten standing up outside Unit 53.1
Why go
The Infatuation's Jake Missing puts it plainly: on a busy lunchtime some of the baying crowd at Borough Market have got the right idea, particularly the ones inhaling kubba haleb and potato chap outside of Juma Kitchen
.1 Those two are the same idea in two shells, a rice patty and a potato one, both fried around baharat-spiced lamb, and they are what built the stall's following.1 There is a charcoal grill turning out kebabs alongside, and Missing rates them below the fried things.1 The set piece is Sunday: one enormous pot of dolma comes out at 1pm and goes until it runs out.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the kubba haleb and the potato chap. Missing calls them
the snack that's made this Iraqi stall rightly popular
.1 - Order: the uroog, cauliflower and courgette fritters,
similarly excellent
.1 - Avoid: loading up on kebabs.
Other things, like the tender charcoal-grilled kebabs are enjoyable, but it's handheld stuff that really stands out.
1 - Avoid: turning up late on a Sunday, since the dolma is one pot.1
What locals & experts say
- Jake Missing, The Infatuation, April 2023:
if you're after a show, swing by London Bridge at 1pm on a Sunday. It's when a gargantuan pot of dolma, an Iraqi family-style dish, is unveiled for all to enjoy.
1 - The outlet tags it a Serious Takeout Operation and Cheap Eats, and carries it in its Borough Market and Tate Modern guides.1
Good to know
- Where it is: Unit 53, Borough Market Kitchens, on Jubilee Place off Winchester Walk.2
- The name changed. Jeff saved this as JUMA Kitchen; the Borough unit trades as KUBBA by JUMA Kitchen.2
- Trading days, hours and prices are not published in anything reachable here, and the operator's own site does not render for us.
Verdict
could-visit — A rice patty fried around baharat-spiced lamb mince is the whole reason this stall has a queue, and Jake Missing's review is exactly the right kind of specific about it: the people who have Borough Market figured out are the ones eating kubba haleb and potato chap standing up outside it. He rates the fried handheld things above the charcoal kebabs, which is a useful instruction on a market where everything smells good, and he names the uroog too. The other thing worth planning around is Sunday at 1pm, when the kitchen turns out one enormous pot of dolma and serves it until it is gone. Against that, the operator's own site does not render for us, so nobody here can tell you which days it trades or what anything costs, and one review from April 2023 is the whole record.