It’s easy enough to stumble across the Chinatown that sits around the corner from Leicester Square, but apparently the “real Chinatown”, Oriental City, is found much further out from Central London. Oriental City is certainly unique by its own merit – an entire shopping centre where almost all the stores and restaurants have entirely Asian origins which is no mean feat considering its hard enough to have a shopping centre, especially one filled of one type of ethnicity. The stores have a wide variety of goods and if you’re looking for some hard to get Asian ingredient, the large supermarket is bound to have it there. Unfortunately as the BBC reports, it’s soon to be redeveloped into a newer complex complete with more residential and commercial opportunities.

Its food court is easily the major highlight and attraction of the complex, bringing in many visitors to dine at a place you would only really see in Singapore. Its only difference is that instead of each stall specialising in one type of dish such as noodles, soup, and roast meats, you have stalls that specialise in types of Asian cuisines such as Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Indian, Thai, and Malaysian. It’s easy to get lost in the choices available and just like the food courts they’re meant to recreate, many people call out to you even though you’re just trying to settle on one option.

We finally settled on some Vietnamese since I hadn’t had any for some time, and after ordering and paying we got a number and tried to find a seat. I’m glad we came just at midday since the food court filled up soon after. For £5.50, the Vietnamese meal was great value, especially since it included a free drink as well. My grilled chicken was tender, flavoursome and went well with the small salad, and dipping sauce. We also tried a small number of dim sum dishes from one of the stalls, and even though they were extremely cheap they were probably the worst I’ve had in London so far. If you’re there and you want some dim sum, I’d definitely head to one of the many restaurants also located in the complex, as I’m sure they would serve much more decent fare.

Oriental City is not a huge complex by any standards, and although the food court is definitely unique, I wouldn’t make a trip out there especially for the food.

Details: Oriental City Food Court
Found on: Oriental City, 399 Edgware Road, London, NW9 0JJ
Highlights: Great selection of Asian cuisines at food court prices. The supermarket nearby offers one of the largest varieties of Asian foods I’ve yet to see. The Vietnamese food we had was decent as well.
Room for improvement: At these prices, don’t expect the best quality ingredients or even presentation. You may need to be on the lookout and put spotters down to find a seat. It’s also quite a fair distance from central London (third last stop on the Edgware branch of the Northern line).
The Kua Rating: 5.5 out of 10