Where to eat this weekend
Six less-heralded restaurants to try in London - from Chinese braised meats on rice to Jaffna crab curry
Hello and welcome back to Vittles Restaurants. Issue 1 of our magazine is still in stock and you can order through our website here. If you would like to stock it at your shop or restaurant, please order via our distributor Antenne Books by emailing maxine@antennebooks.com and mia@antennebooks.com
Six of One is a column dedicated to London restaurant recommendations. In each issue, six writers will share a restaurant, bakery, cafe or takeaway spot that they believe deserves to be better known. You can find the full Six of One back catalogue here.
Today’s Six of One has contributions from Aman Lakhiani, Alexandra Pereira, Joe Paisley, Siqi Chong, Guy Dimond and Charles Francis.
1. Bellyzone
Four years of culinary school, ten years working in kitchens and four years operating a restaurant did not improve my cooking abilities as much as the nine months my wife was pregnant with my newborn daughter did. I found myself cooking all the time, always following her ever-changing taste buds. She previously detested savoury foods that were sweet, such as char siu, or anything doused in kecap manis, but during her golden trimester (three-to-six months), she craved sugar and ate through every packet of Sour Patch Kids, gummies and candies she could find. I used to know how to cook for her, what she would like and dislike, and though the changes were hard, it was so much fun to follow that rhythm. But, naturally, after a few weeks of this, I got frustrated, tired and found myself on the delivery apps, which I frequently open, doomscroll and decide that I might as well cook instead. That was until I discovered Bellyzone, a Chinese takeaway in Vauxhall with only three items on the menu, all of them variations of braised meat on rice: Longjiang pork hock, with or without skin, Taiwanese pork belly and bone-in chicken legs with a side of preserved vegetables to cut the richness.
Setting yourself high expectations for delivery apps is a losing battle; it is best to acknowledge that your laziness has won, and that you, just like everyone else, have settled for mediocrity. Yet, not with Bellyzone. I plunged the cheap wooden spoon provided with the rice bowl into the skin-on pork hock, ripping it apart with zero resistance down to the steamed white rice beneath. Some pickled Chinese mustard greens found its way onto my spoon and I realised I’d found a winner. The accompanying chilli oil was flavourful and light, accentuating the soy-braised meats. The diced pork belly left a film of grease around my lips, hummed by soy and anise. Somehow, it was all just perfect. Since my initial order, I have eaten from Bellyzone more times than I’d like to admit, especially since you can order it 24/7. Its deliciousness even prompted me to visit its now-shuttered stall in Camden. Once I got there, I came to realise that this was really a place meant for delivery. Having been raised in Indonesia, there aren’t many foods that truly take me home, but Bellyzone certainly does. Now, my daughter Althea is five months old and has only just started interacting with food as sensory play, but as I watch her shove purées and vegetables in her mouth, I am already looking forward to sharing a bowl of steaming, soy-braised meats with her one day. Aman Lakhiani
Pod 8, 112 Randall Rd, SE11 5JR
Behind the paywall: An old-school Italian in Waterloo that you may have always wondered about, a neighbourhood tandoori in an expensive part of town, Korean comfort food on the Isle of Dogs, a Sri Lankan institution in New Malden, and a Limehouse caff for the ages.