Address: 395 Edgeware Rd, London NW2 6LN. This is on the A5 just south of A406 (North Circular). If you are coming in from the north, do a U turn by the Murco garage and then first left.

Telephone number: 0208 450 0422 (store)/ 0208 452 2333 (restaurant)

Website: http://www.wingyip.com/

Date of visit:  20 January 2010

Summary:
Wing Yip started in Birmingham’s China Town and have over the past decade expanded into London (Crickwood  & Croydon) and Manchester.

The Crickwood store was re-built in 2009 replacing a slightly smaller one on the same site. This is probably the largest Chinese Supermarket in the UK.

It now occupies a huge trading area: fish counter and various cold room for vegetables and meat. You can also get bottled sauces, rice, oriental beers,wines etc…….

With the vegetable sections – there are 2 – display and cold room, you can get anything from the usual pak choy to fresh turmeric, fresh banana leaves and fresh pandanus leaves (essential in Malaysian cooking). Banana leaves are great as a wrap for BBQing fish.

The fish counter is amongst one of the best around. You can have diver’s scallops, fresh lobsters, sole, brills, turbots etc and it’s nowhere near the price Harrods or Selfridges charge.

The store have a huge frozen section and contains most dim sums, 20 varieties of prawns, pigs maws, trotters etc including a range of SE Asia snacks that are hard to come by. At one end of the store, they have a section of kitchen equipment/utensils. So, if you want to marinate half a dozen ducks, you will get a pot to fit but these pots are at the cheap end of the market and the metal is quite thin.

On the otherside  of the store are new businesses that the old store did not have – a professional or restaurant catering equipment department, a café which offer bakery and Chinese cooked meats – ducks, char sui…..

There is also a restaurant on site which can take 200 covers. Its called Wing Tai (tel: 0208 452 2333). It serves the normal cantonese fare – dim sum at lunch and a more substantial menu in the evening. The dim sum menu have all the old favourites there. I ordered the prawn spring roll and was surprised to see that its made on site – not the frozed ones in the supermarket. I can tell because the shapes were irregular. I also had chow kwai tew which is essentially mee goreng using flat rice noodles. Both were pretty good. The dim sum starts at £2.80 and goes up to £3.80. My meal including 2 bottles of tiger beer and a salt and pepper squid (dim sum size) came to £21 including service. Yes, they do have table clothes but its a serviette not a proper napkin.

Best of all, there are now 2 free car parks – an underground and an above ground that can take 200 cars.

So you can shop and have a meal. This is one of the few authentic chinese restaurants that will allow you to park on site. The other one is in Croydon. From a food perespective. The Cricklewood restaurant is better. I ate at the Croydon branch a year ago – they may have improved.

The Croydon branch is similar and there is also a huge car park on site. There are also restaurants, shops and a bakery in the complex. 550 Purley Way, Croydon, London CR0 4RF.  Tel: 0208 688 880

Birmingham branch is at 375 Nechells Park Road, Nachells, Birmingham B7 5NT. Tel: 0121 327 6618

Manchester Branch is at Oldham Rd, Ancoats, Manchester, M4 5HU. Tel: 0161 832 3215

Eddie

January 2010