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Bang Bang Oriental, London’s newest Asian Food hall had its grand opening mid-July. The eco-friendly venue (for example by re-using food waste for energy regeneration), design by Stiff + Trevillion includes a food court with over 20 vendors, a restaurant and a community space. The minimalist style, fused with Asian traditions are evoked through use of a lot of wood, and clean lines. And surprisingly, this zone 4 location boasts the biggest, and possibly only Asian food hall in London.
The Grand Opening of Bang Bang Oriental took place on 10 July 2017, where we witnessed the official ribbon cutting ceremony, some rather loud and vivacious dragon dancing and live entertainment.
Bang Bang Oriental is owned by the Royal China Group, whose dim-sum and tea pairings we previously featured.
The ground floor houses the flagship, 300-cover restaurant, Golden Dragon, which offers dim-sum lunches and an extensive traditional Chinese menu in the evenings.
The food kiosks, all situated around the central seating area, at Bang Bang Oriental include an eclectic mix of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese, Taiwanese and Malaysian cuisine. The range of restaurants offers everything from affordable to sophisticated. Even on the lunchtime serving we attended, the venue was full, bursting with an authentic vibe of an Asian street food market. Staff were clear to remove used plates, and most of the venues use those remote buzzing gadgets so that you can claim your seat whilst waiting for your dim sum, Bubble Tea or Bahn Mi.
We have included information about our favourite vendors below.
Chatime日出茶太
Global Taiwanese Bubble Tea brand Chatime uses state-of-the-art machines and 30 years of tea manufacturing experience, to brew fresh, high quality bubble teas with a selection of innovative flavours. Vada readers who live or have visited London, should recognise this brand from Chinatown.
WONDERFUL PATISSERIES 名品中西日餅屋
WONDERFUL PATISSERIES is renowned for its delicious Oriental desserts and is the brains behind the Instagram craze – green tea ice cream served in a fish shaped cone. WONDERFUL PATISSERIES brings its China Town favourites, such as Japanese cheese cake, tiger roll and pandan rolls, to Bang Bang Oriental.
Four Seasons文興酒家
This Bayswater and Chinatown institution is famous for its long half-hour queues to sample its renowned Hong Kong-style Cantonese roast duck. Diners will find the same long queues at the Four Seasons in Bang Bang Oriental, but expect the duck to be worth the wait.
Royal China One 68 DIM SUM皇朝壹陸捌點心樓
For diners looking for a reasonably-priced Dim Sum fix at any time of the day, One 68 DIM SUM is the ideal destination. One 68 DIM SUM offers a range of delicate dumplings, fluffy buns, wantons and rice pots – we tried them all, and recommend the prawn dumplings and crispy pork puff (not just for the connotation with homosexuality), with pastry that just flakes away.
Little Thai Silk
Southwark’s Thai restaurant, Thai Silk, has taken up residence at Bang Bang Oriental, which offers authentic and healthy Thai cuisine. Top favourites include Spicy mince pork rice with egg, Mango papaya salad, and Thai sausage.
For full details of all the vendors available, visit banbangoriental.com.
The Bang Bang Oriental food hall is located at 399 Edgware Road, NW9 0FH.
The nearest tube station is Colindale, which is about 12 minutes’ walk away. It’s open daily 10:30am – 9:30pm, and we recommend any Asian-food fans check this out if they have a bit of time over lunch, or for a weekend excursion.
