Sumit

The new owners of Oriental City want to redevelop it to incorporate a DIY superstore and a furniture store – a process that will mean moving the existing tenants to “alternative accomodation” for two years. (Exactly what that means for the traders and their customers is unclear.) As usual, the logic seems one of pure private profit untramelled by social or cultural considerations – the area has little need for more big-box stores.

And also as usual, the promise is that the new development will preserve the character of the area and offer social benefits (such as housing and a primary school). Anyone who’s paid more than cursory attention to the way British property investments have been handled over the past decade, however, may share my suspicion that the community will struggle to survive this disruption and the expensive social elements of the plan will conveniently never prove “necessary”.

There doesn’t seem to be much you can do about it online, but if you do visit Oriental City, make sure to sign their petition to Ken Livingstone and record your protest against yet another crass, unnecessary development that will do nothing but further homogenize our city.

I’m almost reluctant to post this, since the place is already heaving in the evenings and weekends, but what’s the point of being on a site like this if you don’t share the love?

Oriental City is a shopping centre specialising in southeast Asian goods and food just off the A5 (Edgware Road) in Colindale, just behind ASDA in an unprepossessingly boxy grey building. The shops are mediocre; the point of going is the food.

If you want ingredients and groceries, there’s a large supermarket which carries an extensive range of Asian produce – including a good selection of my beloved Japanese snacks and drinks. But Oriental City’s real glory is its food court, which consists of about two dozen concessions each offering dozens and dozens of dishes.

All told, there must be literally thousands of choices (to say nothing of combinations), which is somewhat dizzying but also very enjoyable. The food is uniformly good (not great – there are proper restaurants upstairs which might be better) but in combination with generous helpings and reasonable prices, it makes for a very satisfying meal. Long-timers inevitably complain it’s not what it once was, but it’s still a good deal if you’re in the area.

A friend is living in Berlin at the moment; so far I’ve told him I’m coming over three times and failed to make it each time. I need to go before he starts to think I don’t like him any more … so provisionally in September.