A Taste of China in the 1980s

Happy Chinese New Year! Goodbye Goat, Hello Monkey and the excuse for some casual monkeying about. 

Children born this year will be quick-witted, charming, lucky, bright, versatile, adaptable and smart. Sounds pretty good considering it is meant to be one of the most unlucky years in the Chinese calendar. 

Thousands of people are expected to mark the occasion in London's Chinatown, but if you're looking for something a little more alternative (and less exposed to the Biblical elements), we'd recommend Islington's Chinese Laundry for an authentic celebratory feast or a cocktail or two. 

We swung by in monkey style to check it out and had a hearty brunch of authentic Northern Chinese favourites. Try the Laundry Full with braised beef loumei, bacon, crispy stir-fried potatoes and milky little buns, washed down with a rice and peanut milk.  

As you walk through the entrance and past the bar you feel like you've stumbled into someone's home in the 1980s. Complete with vintage wallpaper, lace table clothes and familial knick knacks the atmosphere is cosy and charming. We fell in love with the vintage Chinese crockery and chopstick holders.

But first, coffee

Rice and Peanut Milk

Shrimp Cake Benedict

Laundry Full

So if you fancy transporting yourself to Northern China in the 1980s for some tasty home-cooked meals, head to Chinese Laundry, 107 Upper Street, N1 1QN.

Photographs: Postcards Home