A New Vegan Chinese Restaurant Finds a Permanent Home in Hackney

A vegan pop-up restaurant called Mao Chow has found a permanent home behind London Fields in Hackney. It is one of a small number of exclusively vegan Chinese restaurants in London.

As first reported by Hot Dinners, Mao Chow opens tonight (Friday 12 April), on Mare Street, behind London Fields and next to cult-favourite late-night boozer, The Dolphin. It’s an area that is seeing more and more new restaurants opening: its neighbours include Bright, Mare Street Market, Martello Hall, Pepitos, and Cook Daily.

It also joins a growing number of vegan restaurants in the area: Temple of Seitan which serves vegan fried “chicken” and Sutton and Sons — a London’s fish and chip shop known for its banana blossom “fish” option — are but 10 minutes’ walk from Mao Chow’s new site.

The tiny hole-in-the-wall site will seat only 12 guests and will not take reservations. Here’s a taster of what’s on the menu.

• Smacked cucumber: Salted cucumber with black vinegar, sesame oil, and crushed garlic
• Langya potatoes: Crinkle potatoes with Silk Road spices
• Oyster mushroom bing: Sesame flatbread sandwich with cumin grilled oyster mushrooms
• Chongqing noodles: Wheat noodles in a spicy aromatic sauce with chickpeas
• Fennel dumplings: “meaty” vegetables and fennel dumplings with chilli oil
• Mapo tofu: Spicy and numbing braised tofu with fermented black beans and doubanjiang
• Rice, too.

More soon.