CCP Home Kitchen: 'I wanted to open a place that sold real Chinese home food'
Plus: Forest Gate's underrated foodie hotspot, Singburi 2.0 opens, a Portuguese special - and world-class chefs descend on E11 this weekend
It’s a scorcher. And first up, excellent news yesterday that Leyton is one of only four areas in London to bag a wedge of cash (£50k to be precise) from the Mayor’s Summer Streets fund for alfresco drinking and dining.
Allocated largely to Francis Road, which will extend its car free hours, the idea is “a hub for street trading and a cultural meeting point with seating, outdoor games, late events and a weekend market.” As we now know, the new KERB streetfood market launches on July 5th, while also promised is “outdoor dining in Leyton Midland.”
The news will be especially welcomed by Francis Road’s latest opening, CCP Home Kitchen. Six weeks ago, it emerged that Francis Road’s former sushi joint Nasi Isda, opposite Yardarm, was to be rebooted by a trio of chefs led by local streetfood visionary Paula Cheung (better known as Dumplings By Paula). A dim sum queen, her pop-ups have roved everywhere from Wanstead Tap to Dreamhouse Records, The Arch and even the recent Francis Road Jumble Trail.
This week I popped in just as the team were opening the bakery element to the venue, which will also comprise cafe and restaurant. So what’s it all about? “The concept was born from a chance comment from a friend who came for dinner one day,” Paula said. “She was awed that I had cooked a Chinese dinner. For me it was an ordinary affair — there must be a soup, at least a dish of poultry, a pork or beef dish, a seafood dish, and a vegetable dish. This makes a complete and balanced meal to share. But she was speechless and said it was the first time that she had had proper home-cooked Chinese food.”
Paula began to think about what her friend had said, as well as the “abomination coming out of many Chinese takeaways,” and also “the dishes that I missed from my mother. And so the idea of this restaurant formed in my head.”
Leytonstone-based Paula has previously talked about how her father immigrated here in the 1960s and had two restaurants. Brought up in Newcastle, she worked in them part time as a school kid, helping out in the kitchen.
Her family are Hakkanese, “sometimes called the nomads of China,” she said. “The name literally means guest family. We moved about in many different areas of China, picking up influences from all the regional cuisines along the way. Our food uses pickled vegetables and steaming as a main way of cooking, and is not something you find ordinarily on a menu. I wanted to open a place that sold real Chinese home food like this, with no bells and whistles. Something that every transplant from Asia thinks about.”
Paula is keen to emphasise that Home Kitchen is a joint project, hence the acronym. “CCP stands for Calvin, Cody and Paula. We all met whilst working at an Asian-style bakery in South London, and they were both excited when I explained my home-from-home concept.”
Calvin is a keen baker, born in the UK to Chinese parents. “His father was a chef and has passed his expertise to his son, who actually graduated as a renewable energy engineer. He's also a fan of Vietnamese cuisine and makes an amazing bowl of pho.”
Meanwhile, Cody is from Hong Kong. “She’s an expert on how our food should taste, and all the variations of HK street food. She's also an avid cake baker, and her specialty is chiffon cakes, a sponge lighter than air.”
Intrigued? In today’s issue Paula gives us a tour of the intimate space, explains exactly what the bakery will be selling, and the lowdown on the cafe’s forthcoming daily set lunch and dinner menus — not to mention the small issue of BYOB. CCP Home Kitchen is open now Wed-Sun, each morning only, for bakes. @ccphomekitchen
Welcome to issue #38. Speaking of bakeries, did you know the Lea Valley was once known as the ‘Bread Basket’ of London? Nope, me neither.
If this fires you up, there’s just one more week to check out Breaking Bread. That’s the name of local artist Lucy Harrison’s exhibition marking her excellent new free printed map of 27 bakeries across Waltham Forest, “celebrating the incredible international diversity of the borough's bread-making community.”
Lucy spent a year filming bread being made, meeting bakers from Syria, Mexico, Bulgaria and other countries, showcasing how food traditions from around the world have shaped Waltham Forest's bakery scene.
The exhibition, displayed along the wood-panelled wall of Lea Bridge Library’s pavilion extension, features a fascinating mix of bakeries old and new, with interview snippets from modern-day examples like Walthamstow’s Today Bread, alongside old pics and histories of institutions such as Percy Ingle, who once had shops in Leyton and across the borough.
Most striking perhaps — as you can see from the image above — is the shopfront at Burton & Buck Bakers (someone needs to revive this name now!). It occupied 568-570 Leytonstone High Road (now housing). The detail in both photos from 1915 is enlightening, from the loaves of bread in the window to the tiling, Hovis signs and elegant double-fronted exterior.
The exhibition runs until June 29th, and you can pick up a stylish copy of the fold-out map too, with a film screening at the historic Bakers' Almshouses on June 27th.
*NEW!* This Weekend’s Top 3
Whyte Russian — one of East London’s finest chefs is at The Birds on Sunday, one day only.
Joyeta Ng at The Arch — this essential residency is by a chef formerly of two Michelin star W1 restaurant Kitchen Table.
Fresh from headlining the Dreamhouse Records stage at Leytonstone festival Shake The High Road, Vanity Fairy is live tonight at the intimate Leyton Calling.
Fact: there are just so many happenings round these parts. And at the end of every newsletter, paying subscribers tuck into a detailed and comprehensive round-up of pop-ups, new openings and one-offs. This new mini column acts as a taster to whet your appetite: scroll down to read way more on each of these, and many other local food and drink highlights, too.
Once again, thanks to everyone who has helped maintain my reader-funded newsletter in Substack’s Global Top 100 Food & Drink charts for the last couple of months (it’s currently at #97).
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Behind this week’s paywall:
CCP Home Kitchen: we take a tour of the interior, and Paula reveals what’s on the set lunch and dinner menus (and talks pricing). Plus: will it be BYOB?
Forest Gate’s best kept foodie secret — but for how long?
E11’s cheapest beer? Three lesser known local Portuguese hangouts for this heat
Singburi 2.0 opens over in E1: a look at its menu highlights and how they’re working in the BYOB element
What you need to know about the latest new Pakistani restaurant in E11 (offering 50% off all weekend), Leyton’s new tapas bar Nuevo Sur, the big name chefs at The Arch and Swirl this weekend — plus this week’s key pop-ups, one-offs and foodie goss