Tales of a takeaway kid
A love letter to a Chinese takeaway.
At the end of May we visited the South London Zine Fest at Deptford Does Art, the wonderful gallery, shop and bar on Deptford High Street.
One of the zines we saw at the festival was 明Ming Hai海, a very personal history of a family-run Chinese takeaway that has stood on Sandringham Road in E8 for over thirty years.
We loved everything about it, from the illustration made using materials from the takeaway itself, through to the stick drawing of the dad smoking his cigarette as he leaves the cash and carry. So we got in touch with Faye, the Zine’s creator, to see if we could adapt her story and help it reach an even wider audience.
Thankfully Faye said yes and we’ve been able to work with her to create this issue. We love it, and we hope you do too.
We have a few copies of the original hardcopy zine to give away to LiB readers. If you’d like one then all you have to do is ‘like’ this issue by clicking the heart at the bottom of the email, or leave a comment. We’ll pick a handful of names at random in a week or so.
This is a special, ‘guest contributor’ edition of LiB. All our contributors are paid (the base rate is £200) and we can only do that because of you, our paying subscribers. So, thank you for supporting independent writing about London.
Ming Hai takeaway is a family-run Chinese takeaway & fish and chips shop established in 1989. It has been serving the local Hackney, London community for 33 years.
My family, the Chan's, wanted to share our brief history and story with our friends, customers, and the local community to thank everyone for supporting us so far and hope it will continue.
One of us found out about zines a couple of years ago and loved the idea of being able to independently self-publish something about any subject you want. With that in mind we all started writing our stories, making illustrations and gathering photos from the archives. It led to us going down a nostalgic path of being a takeaway kid or of being an immigrant starting a new business from the ground up with no experience at all.
That's how the Ming Hai story was born. It is essentially a love letter to the Chinese takeaway.
As the elder Chans are getting older and the younger Chans have gone on different journeys and in different directions, we don't know how long we will continue to serve the local community, and so we wanted to preserve our story for them, our customers and everyone else.
Faye’s story
My family took over the fish and chip shop and Chinese takeaway at the end of Sandringham Road in Hackney in 1989. Then it was called the Sandringham Fish Bar.
Our shop is part of a little row of shops and our neighbours at the time were Casablanca, a Caribbean restaurant (still operating to this day), and Ladbrokes, a betting shop that has now been converted into private flats. In the 90s there was also a newsagent, a cash & carry, a doctor’s surgery, and dry cleaners (the dry cleaners are also still in operation but have new management as the owners have retired). On the junction, there was a pub on the corner called the Mitford Tavern but it got knocked down in the early 2000s and is now a block of flats.
In the 1990s we mainly sold fish and chips items such as pies, saveloys, Jamaican patties and fishcakes, as the customers were mainly workers from the nearby clothing factories. We even sold takeaway teas for 20p to go with their chip rolls.
My siblings and I would help out at the shop when we were younger, doing jobs like stocking up the drinks fridge, shelling king prawns, or buttering the rolls. We spent a lot of time there, even doing our homework in the communal area where our parents would watch TVB (a Hong Kong TV channel) when it wasn’t busy.
Our parents were so busy making money to support the family and for our education, that our childhood was the takeaway and it has been an integral part of our lives.
In 1997 we changed the takeaway name to Ming Hai and started doing deliveries. We were open for seven days a week for a couple of months but ultimately decided to close on Sundays to have a rest day so that we could enjoy doing other things such as go eat dim sum, have day trips to the beach or go to fruit picking farms. We also had good friendships with our suppliers at the time, such as Eric James Ltd who supplied us with sacks of potatoes, as we used to machine cut the chips on site. Eric would come in for a good chat and a cup of builder’s tea.
In the 2010s we phased out nearly all of the chip shop items as the area became more gentrified and demand decreased. This period saw most of the working class or low income families move out of the area as they could not afford it and more young middle class families moved in.
In the spring of 2020 we had to take a forced break because of the Covid pandemic but we reopened in Autumn after having altered the space with a protective plastic wall and a new sliding door space to collect orders and receive payments.
We received a lot of support from our regulars and new customers, they were understanding when we couldn’t do deliveries at the beginning and we got to greet and chat more with them when they came to pick up their orders. The pandemic made our parents realise how much they like working and serving the local community.
Ming Hai Timeline
1989: The Chans take over Sandringham Fish Bar, a fish and chips shop and Chinese take away in Hackney, London UK.
1990s: Chip shop items were popular, mainly selling to school kids and the local clothings factories. We would machine cut chips and fry them in the takeaway. Accepted Luncheon Vouchers and cheques as well as cash payments.
1997: The take away is renamed Ming Hai Take Away and starts doing deliveries.
2000s: Clothings factories have all shut down and more chicken shops pop up so there’s a decline in chip shop items. Switch to precut chips because of the decline.
2010s: Start phasing out many of the chip shop items and mainly sell Chinese food since the neighbourhood has evolved. Website launched in 2012 for customers to view the menu online as there’s less need for paper menus.
2022: Continues to be cash only with no card payments and not partnering with any third party online delivery services. The Chan family are still running the business to date.
Papa Chan’s story
In 1989 I went to Hackney looking to start my own business, I saw this location had many clothing factories and I thought it could be a good location as there are many workers to cater for, so I took over Sandringham Fish Bar from the owner who was looking to leave and learned along the way to run and manage a business.
In the beginning the neighbourhood was a bit rough and not that welcoming to us, but as we have continued serving the community throughout the years it has gotten friendlier and we have watched some of our customers grow from being unruly teenagers buying chip rolls to becoming grown-ups with their own kids. Some of them still come in and buy meals from us and share what they have been up to.
As the area has changed, many have moved away from Hackney but make the effort to pop in and say hello when they can. They have become loyal customers and good friends to us. It has also been nice to greet and serve new customers who have moved into the area and we hope we can create more friendships in the community. Hackney has transformed over the years but I still love it here.
Brother Aaron’s story
Life at a Chinese takeaway teaches you things that will prepare you for the challenges in life. Trust, discipline, respect, passion, hard work and attention to detail. The day you pick up a wok and master it, all of these combined will factor in how well the food will come out.
When your food is appreciated by the customer and they spread the word about the amazing food – only then will you understand the meaning of life.
Sister Sally’s story
Growing up in a Chinese takeaway and having to work on Fridays and Saturdays was the norm for me and my siblings. There was some resentment when I was a teenager when I couldn't go out to parties or hang out with friends but it wouldn't last long because I'd see how hard my parents were working and knowing that the takeaway helped fund our education that I accepted it was a part of my life. When I got older, having the occasional Fridays off for special occasions would feel weird for me and I would wonder if it was busy and if my family were managing well without an extra pair of hands.
Many of my life lessons were learnt there, which I am thankful for. You learn to multi-task, be organised and prioritise things so that during the rush hours it runs with as few mistakes as possible and seeing how hard working my parents are and having these skills instilled in me and my siblings helped us when we got full time jobs in our desired fields.
My parents are very stoic and very rarely show their emotions but they would express their love by making sure that we had an abundance of dishes for dinner and that we had enough money to spend if we were going out.
We would always have dinner together in the communal area and many happy and sad memories were made in that space. Since some of us can’t come back to help as often, the space feels emptier and isn’t filled with as much laughter and loud Chinglish conversations or arguments anymore, but we make up for that when we all get together there for family gatherings.
I recently asked my dad what would happen to the takeaway when my parents retire as I don’t think any of the children want to take it over. He said he doesn’t know but he sees it as his 心血 (which roughly translates to ‘labour of love’). I think they will continue running it unless their health doesn’t permit it.
My heart feels a bit sad for what will happen in the future but I will always be proud to be a takeaway kid.
Brother Leon’s story
I remember when I was little I would go to buy stock at Hoo Hing with my dad, I would always jump on the trolley as he pushed me around and all the ladies would say I was cute helping my dad with the shop.
When paying at the tills I would always see other people get their trolleys pushed by the workers and they would help them put the stock into their vans. One day I asked my dad “why does no one help us?” and he would reply, “it’s because we have a tiny car.”
Sister Sandy’s story
My whole life has been based around the takeaway, from my childhood years until today. I have great memories of the takeaway which includes sliding down through the trap door when the sacks of potatoes were delivered and treating Mr Potato Man as my uncle. I also helped to make cups of tea and coffee for the local workers ensuring I didn’t spill anything. Helping my parents bring up buckets of machine cut chips from the basement to the shop area helped build up my arm muscles!
Every time we had homework we would try to do it with the help of my dad whilst he was working. We even built great relationships with our neighbours and used to get free penny sweets from the newsagent.
We’ve definitely been through some rough times being located in Hackney but we play a vital role in the Hackney community as we have had the business for over 30 years. I still come back to help out at the takeaway where I take the orders and pack the food in the bags.
It is always nice to be recognised by our regular customers, many of whom have watched me grow up and say I look exactly like my mum and I often I get mistaken for her, who they call Ms Chin or Ms Wong.
Lots of great memories have been created at the takeaway and I’m proud of my parents for how far they’ve come. For me, to sum it up, takeaway life = great quality family time.
You can buy a copy of the physical Ming Hai zine here.
We have a few copies of the zine to give away to readers. Just ‘like’ this issue or leave a comment and we’ll put your name in to the hat.
A magical love letter to a particular family life, with some social documentary to the gentrification of Hackney thrown in. Thank you!