Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 17 and Version 16 of Pacific Plaza

Reasonably-sized East and South-East Asian shopping mall and food court in Wembley very near Wembley Stadium. It's very similar to (and is touted as the replacement for) the now-closed Oriental City, and the project is in fact the brainchild of a former Oriental City tenant.

The first tenants moved in just before the end of 2009, and by mid-February 2010 the opening had progressed far enough for the centre to host a Chinese New Year celebration. In addition to the businesses mentioned below, there are plans for a supermarket (already fitted out photo and due to open in mid-May 2010), a bookshop, a clothes shop, and a martial arts hall offering classes and demonstrations.

As of mid-March 2010, there are six businesses trading on the ground floor:

• 8AM Healthcare Ltd photo, offering acupuncture and Chinese medicine.
• Doki photo — this is the Japanese crockery shop that used to trade as Utsuwa-No-Yakata in Oriental City. It's open 10am-6:30pm Mon-Sun.
• Tetote Factory photo — a Japanese bakery open 10am-7pm Mon and Wed-Sun. It also sells hot drinks, and although there's no seating in the shop, it's fine to take your purchases upstairs and eat them in the food court.
• A beauty salon.
• A ceramics shop photo.
• A tat shop photo.

Also as of mid-March 2010, eight of the thirteen units in the food court are open for business (four more are marked as coming soon, including a fresh juice bar, an Indian vegetarian stall, and a Vietnamese stall):

• Sawadee Thai — this will eventually have a Thai massage side, but only the food side is open so far photo, menu p1, menu p2, menu p3.
• Spicy Thai — Thai food! menu p1, menu p2, menu p3, menu p4.
• NP Star Snack Bar — Japanese and Malaysian, specialising in crepes, fried things, takoyaki, and fruit skewers with chocolate dip photo.
• China House — Chinese food, roast meats, dim sum, rice, noodles, Sichuan food dim sum menu, roasted meats menu.
• Hot Korean — Korean food photo, menu.
• Shan — Japanese, previously Zen at Oriental City website, photo, menu p1, menu p2.
• Nambu — Japanese donburi (rice bowl) dishes Facebook photos.
• Seleramu — Malaysian hawker food website, menu.

Kake tried the dim sum at the China House stall in January 2010. King prawn cheung fun (£3.80) was OK, though the wrappers were a little thick and the prawns a decent size but unremarkable in quality (and perhaps very slightly overcooked) photo. Pan-fried turnip cake (£2.60) was good, with decent, not-dried-out chunks of roast meat, obvious shreds of turnip, and a decent amount of browning on the outside photo. Siu mai (£2.50) were pretty good too, with large chunks of prawn to complement the pork, and a well-judged fat-to-meat ratio photo. Jasmine tea (80p) came in a 300ml polystyrene cup with the teabag still in.

Kake visited again in March 2010, and tried the som tam (papaya salad; £6.50) photo from Sawadee Thai. It was made fresh to order, and they asked me if I wanted it "authentic" or "Westernised" (apparently Westernised is sweeter), and also what level of spice I'd like. I went for authentic-style with medium spicing, which was about the right heat level for me (bob would probably have preferred it hot). The flavours were well-balanced, the peanuts nicely roasted, the dried prawns and anchovies gently fishy, and the vegetables fresh and crunchy; sadly, one of the three large fresh prawns that came with it tasted a bit muddy.

Accessibility: Step-free to get in. There's a large car park just outside. There are steps up to the food court on the first floor, but there's also a lift (though the lift is quite well-hidden and it may be that you have to find a staff member to use it). Toilets are on the first floor too, including a dedicated accessible toilet.

See also:

• Will Eat For Money blog posts: Dec 2009, Feb 2010
• Chowhound thread
• Meemalee's blog post
• Ferret Fabricates blog post
• Tamarind And Thyme blog post
• It Ends With Dovi blog post
• Facebook page
• Pacific Plaza group on Flickr
• Kake's photoset on Flickr

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