A brief history of Chinatown favourites…read more.....
I was introduced to real Chinees food - I mean proper Chinese food, not gwailo-style, westernised stuff - in the late eighties, by my old friend Ronnie Chan. Ronnie and I would go weekly to Win Wah on Portland Street, an astoundingly cheap place where dishes cost £3-4, and I learned very quickly to use chopsticks (out of necessity - otherwise Ronnie would have eaten all the grub before I had any chance). Then Ronnie moved back to Hong Kong, Win Wah disappeared, and I was in the wilderness.
After some years of searching, I found a new home at Wong Chu. Cheap, no-nonsense, with high-quality offerings - the noodle dishes, and the duck / pork / squid were always spot-on, I wandered the streets, checked the menus, and tried the other places - but always found myself returning to Wong Chu, because it was cheaper and better than the competition. I dined there hundreds of times.
One Saturday morning in 2001, I opened my newspaper and saw the headline "Hacked to Death by Triad Maniacs". It was Mr Wong and his family. I'd seen Mrs Wong go through her two pregnancies, watched her kids scurry excitedly around the place, and I was devastated. But the restaurant re-opened, now managed by Mr Wong's adult daughter from a previous marriage, and continued to deliver great dining..... for another 5 or 6 years. Then it went into a sad decline - I have no idea why - and by the end, it was a pale shadow of its former self. Back to the wilderness.
Now I have a new home in Chinatown. As good as Win Wah & Wong Chu at their respective peaks, with the same format - no-frills, low-end prices, but great quality, a relaxed and friendly informal atmosphere, and a menu of Hong Kong-style Chinese dishes that are a world away from the MSG-laden gwailo junk that's so ubiquitous in UK Chinese restaurants,
Fu's is the real deal. Welcome home.