Mamalan: Beijing street-food comes to Shoreditch
Enjoy cocktails, spiced dumplings and slow-cooked meat buns at Ning Ma's fifth restaurant
From Beijing via Brixton comes Mamalan, a five-strong family of Chinese street food restaurants whose latest offspring has just arrived in Shoreditch.
Family is central to the Mamalan story: its roots lie in a market stall run by founder Ning Ma's grandfather, back in the old country. Even the name is a tribute to Mama Lan, Ma's mother, who passed on the recipes he used to cook.
Building on the success of Ning Ma's restaurants in Brixton, Clapham, Dalston and Stratford, the Shoreditch branch offers a few variations on the winning theme. A new cocktail menu blends the Anglo and Eastern: Beijing Blues, for example, incorporates gin, sake and lavender bitters, as well as ginger cordial and fresh lemon juice.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The food itself is unfussy, well-executed and satisfying. Unctuous slow-cooked pork buns are a treat, as are elegant spiced shrimp dumplings. Chicken noodle salad, served cold, is fresh and filling.
The pricing is keen, but the restaurant feels anything but cheap. Hard-edged industrial-chic decor is softened by the glimmer of a few dozen copper birdcages, imported from China and suspended from the ceiling – and by friendly, informal service. Mama Lan and Grandpa Lan would certainly approve.
Mamalan Shoreditch, 6 Richmix Square, London E1 £15-20 per person
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.
-
Will California's EV mandate survive Trump, SCOTUS challenge?
Today's Big Question The Golden State's climate goal faces big obstacles
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'Underneath the noise, however, there’s an existential crisis'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
2024: the year of distrust in science
In the Spotlight Science and politics do not seem to mix
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
How London fell back in love with the brasserie
The Blend From Brasserie Zédel to Café François, we sample the best bistros in town
By Charlie Teasdale Published
-
The Count of Monte Cristo review: 'indecently spectacular' adaptation
The Week Recommends Dumas's classic 19th-century novel is once again given new life in this 'fast-moving' film
By The Week UK Published
-
Death of England: Closing Time review – 'bold, brash reflection on racism'
The Week Recommends The final part of this trilogy deftly explores rising political tensions across the country
By The Week UK Published
-
Sing Sing review: prison drama bursts with 'charm, energy and optimism'
The Week Recommends Colman Domingo plays a real-life prisoner in a performance likely to be an Oscars shoo-in
By The Week UK Published
-
Kaos review: comic retelling of Greek mythology starring Jeff Goldblum
The Week Recommends The new series captures audiences as it 'never takes itself too seriously'
By The Week UK Published
-
Blink Twice review: a 'stylish and savage' black comedy thriller
The Week Recommends Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie stun in this film on the hedonistic rich directed by Zoë Kravitz
By The Week UK Published
-
Shifters review: 'beautiful' new romantic comedy offers 'bittersweet tenderness'
The Week Recommends The 'inventive, emotionally astute writing' leaves audiences gripped throughout
By The Week UK Published
-
How to do F1: British Grand Prix 2025
The Week Recommends One of the biggest events of the motorsports calendar is back and better than ever
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published