Together with what felt like half of London I headed down to Chinatown today to watch the Chinese New Year celebrations. As always it was a lot of fun and if you battled your way through the crowds there was plenty to see and of course there was plenty to eat.
One of the staple street foods in Chinatown, and one of my personal favourites, is baozi – a steamed bun filled with meat or vegetables. On offer were pork, chicken, red bean, vegetable, or something i’ve not seen before Chinese chive. The pork bun I opted for – cha siu bao – was barbeque pork with some extra siracha sauce for good measure! It had a great flavour, a nice gentle heat and very pillowy dough, perfect.
If steamed buns aren’t your thing, then there was plenty of other options on offer. As it was Chinese New Year a lot of the restaurants were also out on Gerrard Street. There were plenty of noodles and dim sum for sale, but frankly they looked pretty average at best, so I decided to stick to the pork and try some Jiaozi (pot stickers/fried dumplings). These little dumplings were filled with a minced pork, spring onion and spice mixture that tasted great. And at just £3 for 8, they’re a bargain really.
And because I was feeling a little greedy I had to try one more thing, so decided to give some spring rolls a go. Normally not something I like, mainly because they’re done badly and taste kind of greasy. But these weren’t bad at all, the pastry was really crispy, not oily in the slightest and the vegetables weren’t slimy and overcooked like so many bad takeaways i’ve had. The street food on offer in Chinatown is completely different to pretty much everything else on offer in London and its the better for it.
street feast 
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