You are looking at a vegan egg. That’s right. (Credit: Mao Chow)

Vegan dining in London has just been getting better and better.

Over the past year or so we’ve been blessed with fried chicken kings Temple of Seitan, vegan cheese toasties at 90 Degree Melt, and we’re very much looking forward to welcoming vegan pizzeria Purezza, who recently announced that they’d be opening a London branch.

Hell, a vegan doughnut shop even opened its doors in east London just two days ago!

We were pretty sad when vegan Mexican Gods, Club Mexicana ended their residency at Pamela bar in Dalston (although they’ve now moved up the road to the Spread Eagle in Homerton, wahoo!) because a night at Pamela is mega fun, they make excellent drinks, and who doesn’t love a taco with their tequila?




Lucky for us, the people behind Pamela’s have only gone and replaced our fave Mexican with a vegan Chinese!

Say hello to your newest pal, Mao Chow.

‘Just a small lunch for me today, thanks’ (Credit: Mao Chow)

They used to serve up their vegan wares at Behind This Wall in Hackney, but have now settled into Pamela, trading there from Tuesday to Saturday.

Mao Chow describes itself as ‘inauthentic Chinese food, plant-based’, and has a short but sweet menu, full of deliciousness which is making our mouths water.

PSA – they do a vegan egg. A. Vegan. Egg.

It’s the one we miss from Asian food, the delicious texture of the egg they chuck on at the end.

So, this egg – how the hecky peck is it made?

‘The egg white is made from soy milk and black salt and then set with agar,’ explains Julian.

‘The egg yolk is made using a technique called reverse spherification. The yolk consists of yeast flakes, black salt and sodium alginate. It’s placed in a mould and then frozen.

‘Once frozen, the yolk is then placed in a calcium chloride bath to form a membrane around the yolk when sodium alginate and calcium chloride interact.’

Wow. And we thought he was just going to say, ‘It’s tofu’.

Cash us inside inhaling these ‘pork’ and chive dumplings (Credit: Mao Chow)

Mao Chow's menu Smoked cucumber salad – £4 Black vinaigrette, gochugaru (a smoky, spicy red pepper powder), sesame Daikon with XO sauce – £5 Pickled daikon (type of radish), XO sauce (Spicy ‘seafood’ sauce), garlic flowers Purple sprouting broccoli – £5 Soy glaze, sesame, peanuts ‘Pork’ and chive dumplings – £6.50 ‘Pork’ and Chinese chives, black vinegar Chinese burger – £7 Cumin ‘lamb’, zion pickles, coriander Mapo tofu – £7.50 Koshikari rice, mapo tofu, spring onion Smoked ‘beef’ jerky fried rice – £8 Celery, brussel sprouts, fresh herbs Dan Dan noodles – £9 Ground ‘pork’, half ‘egg’, pak choi Sweet silken tofu – £5 Kumquat, ginger syrup, viola flowers

Find Mao Chow at Pamela, 428 Kingsland Road, E8 4AA, Tuesday to Saturday, from 6pm to 11pm.

We’ll be there making eyes at those ‘pork’ and chive dumplings and spilling espresso martinis down ourselves.

Find out more about Mao Chow here and book a table at Pamela (the bar is small, but perfectly formed) here.

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