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Hattie Lloyd 11/02/19


Chinese Laundry at 10 Coulgate St

Chinese Laundry at 10 Coulgate St | Brockley Pop Up

After their restaurant almost burned down and its charred husk was then occupied by squatters (to the extent they couldn’t legally get them to leave), the seemingly irrepressible ladies behind Chinese Laundry are back.

Understandably, they’ve done away with the idea of an actual restaurant completely.

Instead, Peiran Gong and Tongtong Ren have been hopping across town and bringing their unique take on Chinese cuisine (riffing on recipes from their childhood) to pub kitchens and pop ups over the last year or so. And now, off the back of an epic voyage around China, during which they spoke to farmers, reconnected with their roots, and ate good food all in the name of research, they’ve returned for a long term residency in Brockley’s 10 Coulgate Street.

It’s a relatively new space; a complete blank canvas dedicated to hosting pop up kitchens for three month stints. Only – to the surprise of absolutely no one with tastebuds – Chinese Laundry has already proved so popular, that the pair are settling in here for the best part of a year.

Chinese Laundry Brockley

Here’s how your typical evening will go.

You’ll book yourself a table, because it’s small, you’re organised, and they’re not messing around with any queueing nonsense. Heading along to Coulgate Street, you’ll walk straight past No. 10, and instead head across to No. 12, which is Salthouse Bottles and your BYO bar for the evening. Pick up a growler of draught beer, some natural wine, a pre-bottled Victory cocktail or some Copenhagen-distilled koji spirit – whatever tickles you on a Thursday night – and head back across the road.

Thanks to the smaller scale of the operation here, Gong and Ren are taking the opportunity to mix up the menu regularly and plate up some new creations. That means they’re throwing restaurant conventions like menus out the window (not literally – they don’t open), and you’ll instead be brought a stream of five or six dishes, from drunken crawfish and tuna tartare to chilli slow-cooked chicken feet with marinated chicken thigh, as if you were just dropping by someone’s house.

You should, however, still pay.

Conventional, we know.

 

NOTE: Chinese Laundry’s residency here has now ended. You can see what they’re up to next by checking for updates HERE.

Chinese Laundry | No. 10 Coulgate Street, SE4 2RW


Like cutting-edge Chinese dining? Take a trip to Mao Chow


Chinese Laundry at 10 Coulgate St


10 Coulgate Street, Brockley, SE4 2RW

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