The date for the closure of Oriental City has been set – May 2008. I learned this from the man selling the Malaysian kuehs and curry puffs this past Saturday and I’ve also found an article on the BBC News confirming this. To make a long story short, developers want to knock down Oriental City to make way for flats, a B&Q, and a gym, I think.
Oriental City is a unique shopping centre in North London (Colindale) with, you guessed it, Oriental shops and restaurants. There are a couple of large Chinese restaurants with dim sum, a Chinese jewelry shop, a martial arts store, Utsuwa (the Japanese tableware shop), a Japanese housewares shop, beauty salons, a large supermarket, and smaller cafes and Chinese shops. There’s even a Sega game centre…where we have whiled away some time in the past – that time between lunch and dinner!
The main highlight of the mall (to me, at least) is the food court, with Chinese, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Korean food stalls. I bet I’ve missed out on a country too. The Roti Stall sells authentic Malaysian-Indian roti canai, a flaky bread; stand in front of the stall and watch the man twirl the dough until it’s paper thin. There’s a relatively new handmade noodle stall where you can watch the noodles being stretched and thumped right in front of you. The Malaysian/Singaporean food at Yong Tofu is extremely authentic with lots of rice and noodle dishes to choose from. As I mentionned before, there’s a stall only on weekends that sells Malaysian cakes (kueh), curry puffs and a couple of other dishes. There’s also a stall outside, by the car park, that sells delicious (but fiery hot!) Malaysian food – they also grill satay on charcoal there! Not every dish is perfect though but I’ve never had a downright bad meal; usually, it’s a terrific meal! Most dishes average about £5 and portions are large! Be warned but my eyes always seem to be bigger than my stomach…
This Saturday saw a friend and I head over to Oriental City. I’d been planning yet another visit for a while and now that I had roped in a partner-in-crime, it was time to go! We’re terrible for each other – always buying something the other recommends and ending up with giant baskets full. We had each brought a backpack along in anticipation of the goodies we’d get from the supermarket. First stop though, lunch at the food court!
She had homemade noodles with five-spice braised beef…
…with a side of tasty fried prawns that could be eaten shells and all.
I succumbed again to greed and had rice with both fish curry and beef rendang from the Malay stall outside. Now…I’ve learned my lesson – when they say it’s hot, it’s really hot. I mean, it was a challenge to eat hot. Tasty though!
Second stop was the Japanese housewares shop where I couldn’t decide between bento boxes and came away with nothing. Third stop was the supermarket where we loaded up with ingredients for dinner throughout the week – Japanese grilled wild eel, thinly sliced pork, Korean pork kalbi marinade, Yan-Yans (biscuit sticks with chocolate dip), mango gummies, … there was a lot, trust me! Fourth and final stop(s) was the food court again, where we ran around to various stalls ordering takeaway dishes to share with our respective partners (who dislike the long journey out there; it takes me three buses to get there) at home.
So if you still haven’t been – go! Go now and support them! Honestly, there’s nowhere else in London like it – and it’s the only place I know to get fresh roti canai. Knocking it down for a B&Q (as if there are no home hardware shops in London! ha!) and destroying the community within is a real shame. There’s a website for the official campaign to Save Oriental City and if you need more persuading to go, photos from my previous trips are on my Flickr photostream.
Oriental City
399 Edgware Road
Colindale
London NW9 0JJ
May 8, 2008: An update here.
Sun, 24 Jun, 2007 at 13:39
Excellent day out for you! Well, at least we now know how long we have to enjoy this place too. Great pics by the way!
Sun, 24 Jun, 2007 at 14:04
Hi Jag! Thanks! Yeah, I’ll be making as many visits as I can handle from now till then. I hope the vendors do find another place to go…as I plan on following them!
Tue, 26 Jun, 2007 at 00:59
ah how i remember the long tube ride we had just to get here for decent m’sian food.
good times there, esp. at the saga games centre. sad to hear it’ll be closing.
Tue, 26 Jun, 2007 at 14:54
Hi jasmine!
It is a shame, isn’t it? What a fun place – and it kills me that all those small businesses will have to up sticks and move.
Thu, 20 Sep, 2007 at 19:19
Oh no! Only until May 2008! That makes me so sad 😦
Fri, 21 Sep, 2007 at 17:27
Hi Foxyblue! Yes, it’ll be a very sad moment when Oriental City closes its doors for the last time. Hopefully, the food court guys will all find a place to be…
Sun, 20 Jan, 2008 at 10:43
Well, if this property crash continues decimating the commercial property sector, they might decide not to turn one of my favourite places in London into another vile block of flats.
N
Sun, 20 Jan, 2008 at 19:28
We can hope, Nick!
Sat, 12 Apr, 2008 at 21:46
We have only one & half months left to eat most of the dishes before the closure. Has anybody got any idea where we could find a Food Court like this apart from Mega Mall, Kuala Lumpur? It’s too expensive to fly there. There is no premisis to put them up. Somebody, please help.
Sun, 13 Apr, 2008 at 12:48
Hi Ben! Well, apparently, a number of the stalls are hoping to move to a new food court at a Wing Yip supermarket nearby…but not all of them can afford the rent…
Sun, 13 Apr, 2008 at 18:30
Hi Su-Lin,
Thanks for the info. Yes, I have seen a pagoda like building in Staples Corner. At least we have some hope and we will try to support them. How about getting a grant from the council? Do you want me to talk to my MP?
Mon, 14 Apr, 2008 at 22:00
Ben – I have no idea how these things work – I wonder if the stallholders themselves know of this?
Tue, 29 Apr, 2008 at 13:54
It will be shame if the traders cant relocate
Fri, 31 Jul, 2009 at 09:33
Do you know where is the Roti Canai Man from Oriental City?
Thu, 13 Aug, 2009 at 13:45
ming: Try this website: http://www.tastemalaysia.com/ I got a text message from them that this is their new place. Good luck!
Tue, 16 Mar, 2010 at 00:12
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