5 March 2021

© Louise Hagger

When the AOP asked me to think of some of the places that formed the foundation of my love of food and the photography of it, it was a dream-trip back into my childhood memories. Four Seasons on Gerrard Street is iconic for their roast duck, it always has been and hopefully always will be amazing - It's one of my absolute favourite dishes to eat!

© Louise Hagger

Sadly the dim sum restaurant I used to visit in Chinatown when I was small with my parents in London closed a few years ago, but I have such fond memories of choosing dishes from the traditional trollies that were wheeled around the dining room from you to select from.  The dining room was a noisy bustle of happy chatter and the rattling of plates on the trollies. Even though we'd order a large selection, we would always stop on the way back to the tube at Canton on Newport Place for take-away siu yuk and char siu that they packed in bulging foil containers (their roast duck is great too!), before popping across to the veg shop that was opposite or Loon Fung supermarket to pick up Chinese veggies like kai lan. 

Chinatown Bakery, 2 doors down from Canton, has fantastic egg custard tarts, steamed cakes and buns. C & R café nestled in Rupert Court is a place my Malaysian-Chinese mum would like to visit with her friends for lunch for authentic Malaysian cuisine, especially their Hainanese chicken rice, char kway teow and homemade sweet chrysanthemum tea. 

I would love to take this opportunity to make a call out to the  British Chinese Biz which is doing an amazing job of building a community for British Chinese Businesses. 

I also really want to give huge admiration to Welcome to Chinatown. Sales from EAT BITTER raised $5,000 which we donated to them. Another amazing initiative in NY which deserves exposure is Heart of Dinner #LovingChinatown, which has delivered over 50,000 thoughtful meal packages to the Asian elders during the Covid pandemic. They're still collecting donations and for volunteers to write handwritten notes in traditional Chinese characters, which they use to decorate the paper delivery bags, so the Asian elders know they are thought of and cared for. 

Happy International Women's day everyone!

Louise

Don't forget to tune into Louise's conversation with us about her project Eat Bitter on the 17 March. Details below.

Watch the video premier on Wednesday 17 March @ 12:00 noon here.
We kick off the series on 17 Feb with Louise Hagger talking to us about how she created an international collaboration during a global pandemic resulting in the amazing book titled Eat Bitter.