Chinese Laundry is a new place in Upper Street, Islington. It’s not far from where we live so my husband and I went for their All-Day Breakfast last week.
It serves a “Northern Chinese breakfast”, which is a lot of tofu, sweet and savoury buns, fried dumplings and dumplings in omelettes. All really terrific but perhaps a bit strange at 10am on a Wednesday morning.
If you are an insane ravening Chinese food hound like my husband, this will be right up your street. If not, it might frighten the pants off you. But, they are friendly and kind. If you like the idea of it but are scared of scary food, they can point you towards something safe – you cowardly gaijin.
The food was good, but it’s the interior that really blew me away. It’s been decked out by the owner, a former fashion student and graduate of the Royal College of Art; it is almost like an installation so meticulously has it re-created a mid-Eighties cafe in Northern China. I suggested to the owner that it was performance art and she put her head, in its denim trucker’s cap studded with appliquéd Daisy Duck designs, on one side and thought for a minute. She didn’t say yes or no, but I think she liked the idea.
Chinese Laundry, 107 Upper Street, Islington.
I’m so silly – this is only a little way from my house but I’d thought it was yet another dry cleaning place. Will go and check it out.
Christ on a bike!!! It’s here – Beijing food on doorstep xxx