Mama Lan

Chinese Restaurant in Brixton
Mama Lan image
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8 / 10 from 2 reviews
Address
Brixton Village Market
Unit 18 Coldharbour Lane
Brixton
London
SW9 8PR
Map
Cuisine
Chinese
Region
Brixton
Nearest Station
Brixton
0.13 miles
Opening Summary
Monday - Sunday: 12:00 - 16:00
Tuesday - Sunday: 18:00 - 22:00

A small restaurant in Brixton Village serving handmade dumplings and other Beijing street food.

All In London Review

Cold Beijing noodles that you NEED to try...

Review Image
Brixton Village is all about making tough decisions. Go in hungry with no clue of what you want and you might end up hitting the first shop front you find. But, go in with the intention of giving the restaurants in the separate arcades the once over and there is a chance you’ll have to deal with the pleading, hang dog expressions from the outfits not fortunate enough to be trending right now. In short, it’s a minefield and if you’re indecisive – like me – then good luck.

Fortunately, there is one thing that always appeals: dumplings. And we’d heard Mama Lan did some of the best in the Village. But with popularity comes queuing, so after purchasing some beers from an off-license (they sell their own Tsing Tao for once you’re sat down) we waited. Ten minutes wasn’t bad and if you’re into the likes of Franco Manca or Honest Burger then you can expect to be kept from your food for much longer.

With as many tables outside as there are inside, Mama’s Beijing noodle and street snack joint is only going to get harder to get a place in as the temperature drops. But it’s mild on this occasion so we sit outside. The menu is short. There isn’t much space in the small kitchen so if you turn up expecting choice then think twice. Dumplings, noodle soup and cold noodles are choices large enough to be classed as mains and on the side there is fried chicken, vegetable balls and seaweed salad. We opt for prawn & water chestnut and pork and Chinese leaf dumplings, beef noodle soup and spicy chicken ban mein.

Considering the good things we had heard about the dumplings we weren’t overly sold on them. Both batches contained a good kick of fresh flavour that made it easy to spot the ingredients but the wet parcels lacked a little charring. On the other hand, the soup was a great big bowl of tender beef and noodle covered in a rich broth with a spiciness that you could taste rather than feel. But the star of our mini Beijing feast was undoubtedly the cold spicy chicken ban mein. A lively sesame oil, peanut and fish sauce dressing smothered the soft chicken, noodles and bean sprouts and was easily some of the best noodles I have ever eaten. The meal cost £60 for three with beers and service which is neither pricy given the quality of the food nor a bargain. The only negative is that there so many more restaurants to visit in Brixton Village that it seems wrong to come back for the spicy chicken noodles without sampling at least some of them first. But you should…

Reviewed by T.A.O
Published on Oct 10, 2014


User Reviews

MarcusP

Dec 23, 2013

We had an amazing night at this restaurant. The staff were very friendly and the food was great. My pork dumplings were absolutely fantastic!
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