Extraordinary Ordinariness at Uncle Wrinkle, New Cross
Extraordinary Ordinariness at Uncle Wrinkle, New Cross
A first Vittles review. Words by Jonathan Nunn.
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Today’s newsletter is the first edition of Vittles Reviews, a new column dedicated to critical reviews of London restaurants, written by Jonathan Nunn.
Extraordinary Ordinariness at Uncle Wrinkle, New Cross
A first Vittles review, by Jonathan Nunn
Today, as Fifa President Gianni Infantino never said, I feel British. Sometimes all it takes is a common enemy to consolidate an identity you’ve always felt ambivalent about, and over the last few months that enemy has been 15-year-old TikTokkers in the American Midwest mocking the inauthentic state of Chinese food in Britain. Never mind that the foundation of American cuisine is Creolisation, carom shots and a healthy disrespect for the idea of authenticity. Never mind that if recognition from a grandma in Chengdu was the basis for whether a food counts as ‘Chinese’, we would have to throw out General Tso’s chicken, Panda Express and the entire American-Chinese canon. Never mind that these irritating puriteens have never experienced the euphoria that can only come from popping a sweet and sour pork ball and a carton of salt and pepper chips.
And yet, and yet. I did wonder whether these insufferable nerds were making an unintentional point about the homogenisation that comes with assimilation food; at its best, the British-Chinese tradition is a five-point-palm technique of sugar, oil, chilli, chips and MSG that hits every pleasure receptor in the brain, but at its laziest, it veers into a set litany of the same dishes done without care or variation, the culinary equivalent of shortest distance between two points. If we want to take British-Chinese food seriously then it’s vital – while firmly upholding the right for anyone from Britain to mock the self-importance of American juveniles who have never been outside their own state – to advocate for the takeaways serving a maligned cuisine with the care it deserves. This is why I want to talk about Uncle Wrinkle.