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Bang Bang Oriental Food Hall – the gem of Colindale

17th August 2017 by Eve Bidmead Leave a Comment

Oriental City, Colindale’s very own China Town in a shopping centre, shut down in 2008, taking with it not only the games arcade where I became a dance-dance machine champion but also its much-loved food court.

While Colindale may seem like an unlikely home to one of London’s newest and most exciting food markets, in what was once Oriental City’s place now stands a newly rebuilt and re-branded food hall – Bang Bang Oriental food hall.

Hosting 33 stalls from all over the Asian continent, Bang Bang is a far cry from its run-down but well-loved predecesor. This newly rebuilt food court is impeccably clean and well laid out, with all the food stalls set on the edge of a large hall.

Buzzing Bang Bang

The variety of stalls include Vietnamese, Malaysian, Korean and a huge mix of regional Chinese cuisine. Visiting for the first time with my family, everyone had a preference: a plate of roast duck for mum, some seafood noodle dumplings for my sister and a beef cutlet katsu for my dad. My requests for chicken feet and tripe noodle soup were sadly rejected, but you can’t blame an offal enthusiast for trying.

As you order from different stalls, you receive a buzzer, which eagerly vibrates once your food is ready. Hold onto your receipt for each purchase, as you trade this in along with your buzzer when you go to collect your plate. The nature of having different vendors means receiving all dishes at once is unlikely, but it’s actually quite nice to go trying each plate as it comes and spreading out the meal.

Squid skewers and beef katsu

My dad felt a little disappointed with his katsu, as the sauce came separately and was more breaded beef fillet than curry. I thought the batter was nicely crispy and not too oily, although the meat was tough.  We ordered cuttlefish skewers which had a wonderfully smokey flavor, but they needed to be eaten quickly before the squid turned rubbery.

Noodle dumplings and deep-fried wontons

These hand pulled noodle dumplings where a success; they had a smooth, gelatinous texture with a fresh and light prawn filling. The fried seafood dumplings were like an oriental-flavored onion bhaji, so had very little about them to not love.  I’d give the star plate badge to the roast duck – deliciously rich with a thick layer of soft fat nuzzled under the crispy skin, this was by far my favorite dish.

Hong Kong style duck from the Four Seasons stand

While all these plates sated our savory hunger, of course we still had our dessert stomachs to fill. My sister and I set off to explore and were lured in by the Wonderful Patisserie stall, which smelled like baked cookies and bread – not a taro or bean curd bun in sight.

We went for a Taiwanese bubble tea, which I insisted we ordered with custard rather than the traditional tapioca balls. My moment of madness paid off, as the chunks of custard went surprisingly well against the creamy yet not overly sweet black tea beverage.

Japanese style cheesecake

Doubting that our parents would share our enthusiasm for this cold, textured tea, we took a chance with a Japanese cheesecake. I’d watched videos of these being made with whisked egg whites to create a cake which is now much loved the world over, so thought it’d be something to try.

With no biscuit base, this spongy, light cake was a perfect end to such a rich and varied meal. Although it was structurally rather sound with minimal wobble, the smooth and airy texture was a welcome change from the heavy and rich traditional cheesecake, and between four this was a perfect pudding.

Given that Bang Bang Food Hall is now a 50 minute commute from my new Clapham North home, the fact I’m keen to soon return is testament to its attraction. If you’ve never had a reason to visit this Edgware-bound end of the Northern Line, you’re in for a treat. So venture into Zone 3 and arrive hungry, and preferably in a large group. Order everything and don’t skip the duck. You can even visit the RAF museum after (and who says Colindale isn’t great?).

Filed Under: food market, food writing, korean food, london, review Tagged With: asian food, bang bang food hall, china town, colindale, north west london, oriental city

Kimchi and KFC – Korean food in Golders Green

29th August 2016 by Eve Bidmead Leave a Comment

Although traditionally a very orthodox Jewish area, in the past ten years Golders Green has received an influx of Korean and Polish residents, resulting in a handful of Polski skleps and two brilliantly-stocked Korean supermarkets. On of my earliest blog posts was about the ‘food scene’ (if it amounts to as much as that) in Golders Green, and now adding to the list I’m writing about the new Korean restaurant by Spicy Grill, a slice of Seoul on my doorstep.

You know it’s a good sign when you walk into a restaurant of any foreign cuisine and all its clientele are from said cuisine’s home territory. Incredibly busy even on a Monday night, we were quickly seated at one of the tables – equipped with its own built-in barbecue, of course.

Trying to work out what to order from the extensive menu, it became clear that Korean food is far more than just kimchi, although this fermented cabbage dish is everywhere. Served on the side with the big barbecues, it is also a main ingredient in Kimchi Jjigae – kimchi and tofu soup.

FullSizeRender (32)

Kimchi Jjigae

Red hot and bubbling in temperature and bright red in colour, this arrived at our table blistering hot. I watched it simmering away while I waited the required ten minutes for it to cool to a consumable temperature. Once cool enough to actually eat, I was initially overwhelmed by the kimchi flavor – it is, after all, an enormous bowl filled with the stuff.

Seasoned with gochujang, a spicy Korean chili sauce, this soup had an addictive umami kick –  just the right level to hook you in for second, third and fourth spoonfuls, despite knowing that this much fermented cabbage will surely see you off to the toilet for quite a while after. The tofu was soft, with a creamy texture which calmed and complemented the fiery kimchi nicely.

The options of meat available to barbecue ranged from plain jane beef right the way through to tongue – this offal lover’s dream. Unsuccessful in convincing my dining partner that we should try the tongue, we settled on beef bulgogi, grilled marinated strips of sirloin steak served with onions.

beef

Beef bulgogi

I’m not altogether sure how I feel about going out to eat, to then have to cook my own food…seems like the work of lazy restaurant chefs to me. However in this instance, the manual labor on our side was spared; because we had ordered just one barbecue dish, it was cooked for us and brought to the table. Our beef came accompanied by sweet beans, more fermented cabbage, a sweet satay-like sauce and some sesame oil. We could then combine all this in a lettuce wrap, a genius way to mix all the flavors while keeping the meal light and fresh. The meat was soft and beautifully flavored, with a touch of sweet against the charcoaled meat.

wrap

Beef bulgogi wrap

In addition to our cauldron of kimchi and vast plate of beef, my friend insisted we couldn’t miss the Korean fried chicken. Different from the colonel’s Kentucky fried variety, Korean fried chicken is fried twice, leaving its skin doubly as crunchy but far less greasy. They tend to use younger chickens with more tender meat – in our case,  the small chunks of chicken, even though they were boneless cuts of breast, stayed succulent and moist.

chickn

KFC – Korean fried chicken

Washed down with the extremely drinkable Hite Korean Pale Ale, this was some of the best fried chicken I’d ever tried (and I’m fairly partial to some fried birds, especially post four pints on a Saturday night). The whole meal was more than enough for the two of us, and with a beer each and service the whole meal came to £18 each. I will certainly be visiting again soon to try out more dishes on the menu, and perhaps maybe even do a bit of DIY barbecuing on the tables. I urge you all to head up to my much beloved Golders to give this place a go.

Filed Under: food writing, korean food, review

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