Rainy Days call for Ramen
It was raining heavily, my work was piling up and deadlines were looming. Whilst, I didn’t want to carry on reading about constitutional law (granted no one does currently!) or wear clothes that needed a zip to fasten. I did, want ramen and I also wanted dim sum and bubble tea.
Bang Bang Oriental to the rescue
What better place to fulfil my desires than Bang Bang Oriental. A newly opened Asian food hall, which boasts to be the UK’s largest and seats 450 with the “widest selection” of specialist Asian food. Take all this and couple with bright airy eating areas, symptomatic of the natural light flooding in from the vast walls of windows. A small padded soft play corner for small children, a restaurant and little store. I was in my element. I love artisanal food markets and it was a welcome distraction from looming deadlines and gloomy weather.
The practicalities
Located in Colindale and situated within a large new building – there’s ample parking in the underground Morrisons car park (for which you don’t pay) and a clearly marked entrance to the food hall. On entering you’ll see the ground floor houses the Golden Dragon table service restaurant, which I didn’t try on this visit but will definitely go back to experience. There you can either take the stairs or the lift, to the main dining area. The vast space boasts an explosion of cultural diversity, celebrating different culinary delights from the entire Asian continent.
The food
Spanning from Chinese to Malaysian and Filipino to Indo Chinese. It’s an awe inspiring sight and the vendors are so welcoming – proud of their food and eager to showcase. They were all more than happy to make recommendations, which is such a nice treat as I love when people want to talk about food as much as I do. We tried ramen from oishi tasty ramen, famed for their sushi but venturing into the land of hearty comforting noodle soup. Based on recommendation, I opted for Yamagoya ramen pork based, swimming in a hot salty broth with wheat noodles. Garnished with a soft boiled egg, spring onions and seaweed. Mum doesn’t eat pork and snubs fatty meat, in general. She opted for a spicy seafood bowl with chunky scallops and big fat garlicky prawns.
Best Dim Sum
We then chose dim sum from Royal China One 68 which I was really eager to try. Everything at this stand looked fabulous and it smelled unreal – lots of garlic and chill. The staff suggested we order the roast pork buns – which are my absolute favourite and the chef’s specials which included the prawn dumpling and the black gold salted egg yolk bun.
The last in the list being an interesting collaboration of sweet and savoury. This was a strange taste sensation and unlike anything I’d ever eaten – a pillowy casing coupled with a sweet eggy middle. I can’t adequately describe whether or not I even enjoyed this, it was beautifully made and perfectly executed but the overarching grainy sweetened yolk was so far out of my taste experiences that I was left in two minds. It isn’t something I would ever crave (as I do red bean stuffed dumplings) but it is something I’m glad that I tried. The pork buns were delicious, light and plump with a jammy centre and salty porky goodness. The prawn dim sum was dense and juicy – with a nice toothsome bite.
Filipino food for the win
The third stop was Filipino food at Manila Kitchen and by this point we were very full and FaceTiming my father, who asked if there was anything going spare. Filipino food has come to the forefront recently, especially with mainstream offerings like mamasons dirty ice cream and showcasing at the barrio festival.
I was recommended the Boy Baboy which consisted of sticky grilled pork belly served on rice, with a salad and pork sausage spring rolls. It came with a palette cleansing tamarind soup. The dish looked beautiful and wouldn’t have been out of place in a fine dining restaurant. The pork was soft and chewy and wonderfully chargrilled, the salad fresh and crunchy. The spring rolls were favoured by my father but I wasn’t a huge fan – as the meat was heavily processed and I can’t quite ever enjoy it, which is why I’m very particular about hot dogs generally.
My favourite drink. Ever.
The crowning glory was the bubble tea from Tiger Hill, which I drank two of…because it was seriously that good. Thinking of it now makes me so happy, that I could do a little kitchen dance. This is Taiwanese style, brown sugar fresh milk tea with traditional tapioca pearl/boba. It comprises of four different types of brown sugar and is rich and creamy and dense but refreshing and moreish all at once.
I crave this on a weekly basis and no other bubble tea, in London, comes close. Mum opted for the strawberry tea with lychee popping pearl. There is an ample selection of toppings which range from the traditional tapioca pearl or jellies like grass or coconut and various fruit flavor popping pearl like strawberry, mango and lychee. Tiger Hill is not to be missed.
My final take(away)
In fact, Bang Bang Oriental is not to be missed either. It’s such a fun and interesting concept with a wonderful atmosphere that manages to be simultaneously spacious and airy whilst also maintaining an element of coziness and warmth. In fact, I’ve got my eye on a few other counters (hello crispy duck) and all the deep fried seafood…I’ll be visiting again very soon!
https://www.bangbangoriental.com
399 Edgware Rd, London NW9 0FH
