You’ve wandered around Broadway Market, paid £6 for a turmeric oat flat white and traipsed around London Fields — but now, where to munch?
Take a left down Martello Terrace and then a right onto Mentmore Terrace and, hopefully, avoid the queue for the area’s new Hong Kong wonton noodle soup bar, brought to you by the team behind Mr Bao, Daddy Bao and Master Bao.
Open from Thursday to Saturday, 11am–3pm, it’s the perfect place for a stylish midday meal. What do they serve, I hear you ask? It’s all in the name. As I squeeze into the square room, two fans mounted on the ceiling are trying their hardest to combat clouds of steam engulfing the room. Here is where the magic happens.
Around the steaming stoves is a metal bar, and a shelving design reminiscent of the steps snaking their way up mountains to temples in Guizhou. Instead of religious pilgrims, here you’ll find east London’s foodies, elbowing each other on bar stools and smiling politely through the fog. The menu is encased in the glass tabletop (so don’t make my mistake and reach for it) and is refreshingly pared-back.
Choose your wonton — pork, prawn, fish skin, all handmade — and either noodles, broth or both. Then add fish balls or fish skin. Free oolong tea refills come in delicate gaiwan cups. There is beer for £5, or a royal purple iced sour plum tea for £3.
That really is it, folks. The restaurant is based on a traditional Hong Kong concept, and there is no room for vegetarianism, veganism or gluten-free-ism — diets I’m sure are well catered-for in the Asian supercity in 2026. But the simplicity is clearly popular, and a queue typically winds its way up the road, no pre-booking allowed.
Normally I’m not one for such a lack of choice, but somehow it works — most likely because the food is so darn satiating. Start with the fish skin and get your digits dusted with scales, but be sure to save some for your broth. Oh God, make me humble before this slow-cooked broth, with its perfectly-balanced flavours and wafting aromatics.
My fish skin wontons have none of the slime I had feared. Instead, they are delicately gift-wrapped in paper-thin parcels, with the fishy flakes adding some welcome crunch. My ‘mildly broth-phobic’ dining companion opts for the lo mein, which features fresh, springy egg noodles. The pork is an umami explosion with soy, garlic and ginger leaving the wontons so juicy and delicious, they were gone in a flash.
The place is clearly in high demand, and I can see why. Careful consideration has been made in every way -—the interior design is almost as sharp as the flavours, making it a typically fashionable east London offering.
As we leave, I ask a server who Charlie is and get the answer I want: “We don’t know.” But it doesn’t matter. For a good dose of uncompromising cool and a blast of Hong Kong, you know where to go.
Wonton Charlie’s, 392-393 Mentmore Terrace, E8 3PH.
