My Foodie London: blogger and author Lizzie Mabbot

The Chinatown Kitchen author reveals her favourite shopping and eating spots in London
Author and blogger Lizzie Mabbot
(Photographer/Press)
Victoria Stewart12 August 2015

Having grown up in Hong Kong, Lizzie Mabbott moved to the UK when she was 13 years old, later using YouTube videos and cooking forums to teach herself how to cook using south east Asian ingredients.

In March 2008 she started her blog Hollow Legs: Lizzie Eats London, which has since brought in over a million unique visitors, with 11,000 coming every month. Her brilliant book, Chinatown Kitchen, which aims to make south east Asian cookery as accessible as possible, was published last month and here she tells us where her favourite food shopping spots are in London.

Where do you live, and with whom?

I live in Camberwell on my own.

Where do you shop for cooking equipment?

For Asian cooking equipment, I most often go to See Woo in Chinatown; they have a huge range of crockery and specialist equipment. Otherwise, the good ol’ internet.

What is your favourite kitchen gadget?

My julienne peeler. It’s so easy to whizz through lots of vegetables to make noodle salads or slaw.

Where do you shop for ingredients - do you have a favourite local London deli?

It’s not so much a deli, but I shop mostly at the Turkish Food Centre at the bottom of my road. It’s got great pickles, olives and an incredible selection of cheap fruit. They often have seasonal specialities; at the moment, fresh hazelnuts are in. Their bunches of herbs at around 90p are at least five times bigger than any you’d see in the supermarkets. I also really love Longdan on Walworth Road; they have a great range of dried noodles, though sometimes they run out of fresh groceries, like tofu.

Lizzie Mabbot's black sesame ice cream
(Photographer/Press)

What about your favourite fishmonger, grocer and butcher?

It’s a shame that Camberwell doesn’t really have much in that arena. I used to live in East Dulwich and I was really well served on this front. You’d have to queue up for a while outside William Rose (the butcher) on a Saturday, but it was great having everything within that distance, and not having to use the supermarket. I still cycle back there now. Moxon’s is directly opposite and is wonderful. Greengrocer I’m still a bit stuck on. I work 10 minutes from Borough Market, but that’s likely to bankrupt me. Will someone please open a greengrocer’s in Camberwell?

Which is your favourite all-time recipe book and why?

Fuchsia Dunlop’s Sichuan Cookery. What it lacks in glossy styled pictures, it makes up in brilliant recipes that have always worked for me.

And which one(s) are you cooking from now?

I’m trying to eat more vegetables and less meat so I’ve been peering at Ottolenghi’s Plenty quite a bit.

Which recipe book are you looking forward to coming out?

‘Istanbul and Beyond’, by Robyn Eckhardt & David Hagerman. They’re currently looking for a UK publisher, but based on their blog, Eating Asia, which I’ve followed for more than seven years, it will be a cracker. I loved the food in Istanbul, but much of it was a mystery to me so this will be something I reach for time and again.

Are you experimenting with any new ingredients?

Given my proximity to the Turkish Food Centre I’ve been experimenting a lot more with ingredients there; yoghurt-dressed salads and a lot of sumac has been happening in my house.

Which condiments do you use the most?

Ketchup. I don’t want to eat any kind of fried potato product without it. I use mustard a lot too.

Do you make any larder-type items at home?

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I’ve been experimenting with lacto-fermenting pickles recently. The carrots went well. I have also been trying out making kimchi with vegetables other than the oft-seen cabbage; the watermelon rind worked a treat.

Which interesting new dishes have you tried in London?

I went to a Korean restaurant on Walworth Road the other weekend that consisted of slappy cheese ramen. It was SO FREAKING GOOD. I love that the Koreans took ‘junky' foods and incorporated it into their cuisine.

Where would you go for a pub supper in London?

My local, The Camberwell Arms. It’s not 'pub grub’ really. It’s really good food that happens to be served in a pub. I love that; casual, but really good.

Chinatown pork belly
(Photographer/Press)

And for a late night cocktail?

I usually end up in El Camion because it’s open late, but if I’m not seven sheets to the wind already, I’d probably head for Bob Bob Ricard’s downstairs bar.

You make amazing noodles but where would you go out to eat them?

When I was researching my cookbook, Chinatown Kitchen, I came across and developed all sorts of dishes which I really loved, the one-dish meals that have everything you need in them – noodles, protein, vegetables. There were so many variations - many I’ve documented and recreated in my book - but I didn’t really touch on proper Japanese tonkotsu ramen, because of the amount of labour involved. So, if I were going out for noodles it would be for that. Kanada-Ya and Ramen Sasuke are my go-to places.

Chinatown Kitchen: From Noodles to Nuoc Cham - Delicious Dishes from Southeast Asian Ingredients by Lizzie Mabbott is out now (Mitchell Beazley, £20). Follow her blog http://lizzieeatslondon.blogspot.co.uk/

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