Finding great oriental food in London 1
One of the great things about Sydney is the ease of availability, cheapness, authenticity and freshness of oriental food. It’s taken a year but I now have a handful of places in London where I can go and find fresh and authentic oriental food for not a whole lot of dosh.
Here are some of the places I found. Bon apetit!
Oriental City’s food court, North London (Colindale), zone 4
For anyone who misses the buzz of oriental food courts in Sydney such as in Market City shopping centre or on Sussex St then this is a very fine substitute. There are about 8 stalls each selling specific types of oriental food – Hong Kong Dim Sum/Yum Cha, Malaysian, 2 Japanese, 2 pan-south east asian, northern Chinese and Singaporian hawker food. If you’ve ever enjoyed Hainanese chicken & rice then you simply must try the Singaporian stall’s version of it – according to my partner, a native Singaporian, their version is very faithful to the meals served to diners in hawker centres all over Singapore.
Situated right next to an oriental supermarket makes it convenient for a good meal and a place to pick up hard to find groceries like IndoMi instant noodles, Japanese mayonaise or Chinese egg custard buns.
Kingsland Rd, E2
This street in east London is full of tasty and cheap Vietnamese restaurants. So far I’ve only tried Song Que Cafe (#134) but with 6 different types of Pho noodles and more than 100 dishes on the menu it might take some time before we get around to trying other places in the area.
Chinatown
Well this is the obvious spot to pick up a good oriental meal but often the prices are well inflated and the food less than fresh (alas, not uncommon in many restaurants in London). I’ve had decent HK-style Chinese fare at Rong Cheng on Shaftesbury Avenue; enjoyed absolutely enormous Japanese curries and bento boxes at Misato on Wardour St; and stuffed myself on great Malaysian meals (go the Nasi Lemak!) in a restaurant whose name escapes me but is the only Malaysian restaurant on Wardour St.
