Mama Lan

My girlfriend pointed out this place for dinner and to meet up with her sister for a catch up.
I didn’t really do much investigation to be honest, rather trusting what my girlfriend said and read.
The place itself is quite small and cosy and the options for drink and food really are limited. Based on that ideas a bit apprehensive as to what to expect and what the food would be like. But never one to shy away from appearance and at least give it a go, I cracked on.
We each ordered different starters and mains and while I may have been apprehensive the food certainly didn’t let me down. From deep fried veggie balls, to won ton crisps, pork dumplings and my chicken noodle Main, it was all so tasty and filling!
Packed with flavour and not too pricy it is definitely worth a shot but make sure to get in rather early as, it may seem dead at first but it very quickly fills up

This was 4 stars as of 2 weeks ago… but went again yesterday, and the portions of the noodles have shrunk by like 20−30% for the same price!

I first tried Mama Lan on Brixton Market and couldn’t forget about it. I had to go again. I love their noodle soup with lots of fresh and delicious veggies. The algae salad is a nice accompaniment.
The restaurant is quite small but you usually get a table easily. The interior is simple and casual — just right!

If you’re looking for a Chinatown-​esque vast array of nondescript pan-​Asian dim sum, or Szechuan spiceness, or «real» Vietnamese (clue — go to a Vietnamese restaurant) food, you’re definitively in the wrong place. Mama Lan’s is explicitly northern Chinese, Beijing style food — from the wheaty noodles in the noodle soups to the gyoza-​like nature of many of the dumplings.
This bijou Clapham outpost of the Brixton original seems to be picking up a solid crowd of regulars — I’d expect that the as-​yet-​unmade quasi reality series «Clapham Shore» or «Made in South Chelsea» to have scenes set here– if they can find a place for the cameras; P
The menu itself is fairly compact — if you go as a group of 3 – 4 people with a bit of an appetite «one of everything» is a very real option. Expect to pay c. £9 for a noodle dish, and £5−6 for the dim sum plates. Prawn dumplings were a particular high note on my visit; as other reviewers have noted, the roast pork bun wasn’t a fluffy confection as one might «normally» expect, more of a bap, and the pork itself was flawless. Wood ear mushroom dumplings had a rather composty note to them. All in all we paid about £35 for two, including a drink each, which was pretty reasonable value given the quality.

Oh dear. The food here wasn’t to my tastes at all! I ordered a chicken noodle dish. The sauce was so thick and oily I had to leave most of it. I also ate some dumplings from my friend, and I found them equally unpalatable. I love Vietnamese food, (Cay Tre in Soho is fab, or even Phở) but this was horrible. I’ll remember that awful sauce for the rest of my life.

I love independent restaurants. I love hole in the wall restaurants. I love mom & pop places. Mama Lan ticked all the aforementioned boxes and I therefore planned to eat at this little place serving Beijing street food as soon as I saw it
Jules H joined me for dinner here over the weekend. Although there’s no booking at the small restaurant, the turnover of tables is swift and we shared a larger table with some other diners
The menu is small but perfectly formed, offering some noodles soups, cold noodle salads, a variety of dumplings, small snacks like pork buns and chicken wings as well as some salads. We opted for beef noodle soup, tofu noodle soup, vegetarian dumplings (pan fried gyoza style) and pork buns
It’s hard to know how to judge Mama Lan. On my visit to Beijing, I found the food generally disappointing. It was quite devoid of flavour compared to Cantonese, Sichuan and Taiwanese food. To be fair to Mama Lan, the taste reminded of the food I had eaten in Beijing but therefore, it wasn’t the best
The best dish was my beef noodle soup, which had some depth to the soup with super tender pieces of slow cooked beef brisket. However, Jules’s tofu noodle soup was rather flavourless. The dumplings were nice, especially when dipped into vinegar, which was supplied on the tables. However, the pork buns arrived late, just as we were about to cancel them. They’re hirata open pork buns, not like the sort you’ll get a dim sum. The pork was rather dry
I wanted to give the place 4 stars for being independent and different but unfortunately, the food only merits 3 stars