Mama Lan, originally a Brixton based Bejing street food restaurant. I kept hearing about it but hadn’t got myself down to Brixton, but that doesn’t matter because Mama Lan came to me, opening in Dalston in 2015. They are also in Stratford, Clapham and soon to be in Shoreditch.
I met my friends for an early meal I needed some London style comfort food, hoping dumplings and noodles would hit the spot.
We sit down and take a look at the menu, with 4 or so options in each catagory, dumplings, buns, noodles and street food. The majority are smaller plates about two per person or a single noodle soup. The drinks are fairly simple a few beers and wines by the glass.
Since there were four of us we took the opportunity to order across the menu. Above you can see us getting stuck into various dumplings, buns, noodles and of course I ordered some chicken wings! Each dish really reflected the flavours mentioned on the menu. My favourites had to be the dumpings, the beef and spring onion, so delicious and soft, but holds together perfectly as I dip into all the sauces. The noodle salads were packed with different flavours and crunchy peanuts on top for texture. The buns, weren’t Bao standard but hey I didn’t have to stand in a queue for over an hour and the crispy chicken inside was well cooked just like the wings, not greasy at all.
Mama Lan is great for mid week meals or sharing in groups when you just want some good value for money food, really felt like homestyle cooking. Oh and as one of my friends now always points out, ‘the chairs have backs on’, no rushing you out so get comfortable and enjoy your meal.
EatingEast 