MamaLan Brixton | Chinese Street Food

The hand-rolled dim sun parcels at Mama Lan in Brixton Village are without question, list-worthy. Small parcel Beijing dumplings, or gyozas, are made onsite, and rolled into bitesize servings of five. Served alongside pickled vegetables they come in ‘beef and spring onion’, ‘pork with Chinese leaf and woodear mushrooms’ and ‘Chinese leaf and carrot’. All vegetables are sourced from the doorstep in Brixton Village Market and put to exquisite use.The beef noodle soup in its dark, rich broth with carrots, thinly-sliced leeks and red chilies is probably the best you’ll find anywhere outside of Beijing. The quality of the beef is exceptional; no surprise as the meat is free-range and supplied by swanky butchers, The Ginger Pig. Served liberally and in thick, greedy chunks, it’s the crown jewel in the bowl. The broth is steaming hot and heightened by the addition of lip-tingling red chilies. The noodles are prepared on-sight in front of you while you order. The pasta is rolled out, flowered and tossed; then cut into squares, flowered again before being cut into noodle-strands before boiling. The freshness and quality is evident immediately.