Uncle Lim's Kitchen

Upper North Arcade

Whitgift Center

Croydon CRO 1UZ

I volunteer with a group called ASAP at the Asylum Support Tribunal which is in East Croydon (at least until the end of this week, when it moves to a new home in the Docklands). On the days I go, it's usually frantic and at most, I manage to pop across the street to get a sandwich or something at lunch so that I am not too grumpy all afternoon. But one day while reading about yummy things to eat in London, I stumbled upon this post about Hainanese chicken rice and realized it was only a 5 minute walk from the tribunal. So yesterday, on my last day in East Croydon, I decided I had to go try it out. Sadly, I found out they only do Hainanese chicken rice on weekends. But the woman behind the counter was incredibly friendly and when I mentioned that I was hoping to try it, she told me that they're going to start offering it on Monday or Friday as well so that the office workers in the area would have a chance to have it for lunch. Alas, still no hope for me, but she recommended their special of the day, the curry laksa, and wrapped it up very nicely for me so I could drag it back to the tribunal for lunch. Boy am I glad I took her recommendation, this was absolutely delicious! The rice vermicelli noodles and bean sprouts were packed separately so I could mix in the curry laksa when I was ready to eat, and the curry laksa had pieces of fish cake, a few king prawns, sliced chicken and fried tofu in it - the best lunch I have had in East Croydon by far. It was spicy but also really rich with coconut milk, and she packed a small container of sambal on the side in case I wanted to add even more spice. I'm almost a little sad I won't be going to East Croydon any more - if only I had found out about this place a year ago.