Historical version 9 of Oriental City (view current version)
- 399 Edgware Road
Oriental City was a large South-East Asian mall and community centre in North London, reasonably close to Colindale Station. It closed for redevelopment on 1 June 2008. It's expected to be closed for at least three years, and many of the traders have nowhere to go, so are unlikely to still be around when/if it reopens.
The info below is retained for people who want to know what it used to be like.
Food court
The (covered) food court on the ground floor is a proper food court, with stalls arranged around the edges, and chairs and tables in the middle. You can have Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Malaysian, Indian, you name it. Select your favourite dishes from as many stalls as you like, and collect them when your number comes up.
Specific recommendations: there are two dim sum places, and the one that's called "Dim Sum House" has a better selection than the other, the "Royal Lido". (Although their "Shanghai style" pork dumplings are not in fact soup dumplings; my quest continues. --Kake)
Highlights
- The food court, of course!
- Other food places, including a cafe that does bubble tea, and a sushi bar.
- The Japanese crockery shop.
- The Japanese supermarket — all kinds of interesting vegetables, sushi-grade fish, meats, noodles, rice, spices, oils, vinegars, exciting things in packets.
- The durian shop. Located outside the main building, for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who's ever come within smelling distance of durian.
Getting here
Colindale Station is closest; Burnt Oak Station is also within walking distance, but as it's one stop further out than Colindale it's probably less useful. If you're driving, it's worth knowing that they have a free car park.
See also
Other people's writeups, news reports, etc:
- Oriental City group on Flickr
- Diamond Geezer's writeup (May 2008, has more links at the bottom)
- Announcement of closure (June 2007)