There’s a new Cantonese in town

Frank Yeung and Abhinav Malde are best known for the popular south London Taiwanese steamed-bun restaurants Mr Bao and Daddy Bao. For their next project, the duo have opened Café Kowloon underneath the arches of London Fields railway station, which embraces the nostalgia of Hong Kong’s cha chaan tengs (tea restaurants).

Yeung’s father is from Hong Hong, and Café Kowloon captures and explores the energy of the great city. Guests are greeted with counter-top dining, intimate booths and family-style banquettes fitted with red-lacquered lazy susans. “It’s deeply rooted in the way Hong Kong loves to eat and drink,” Yeung says.

Head chef Budgie Montoya, previously of the London restaurants Sarap and Apoy, oversees a menu of Cantonese comforts – with a twist: prawn toast made with bread from their neighbours E5 Bakehouse and served with crispy prawn heads and pickles; cha siu collar with grapefruit and mustard leaves; whole sea bass dressed with soy sauce.

While the Hong Kong French toast received coos from other diners, the Ovaltine mousse – served with crispy puffed rice that Yeung says was inspired by trips across the peninsula – personally won my heart.

“The idea wasn’t to recreate Hong Kong’s dining scene,” Montoya says, “but to shape it into something that reflects the identity of Café Kowloon.” Yeung agrees. “A kind of authentic inauthenticity!”

Café Kowloon, 392-393 Mentmore Terrace, London Fields E8 3PH