A break from the Chinese restaurant orthodoxy

THE diversifying revolution in Britain's Chinese restaurants is complicated.

- Jimi Famurewa

On the one hand, most of us now know that the beloved monstrosities in the wider Anglo-Cantonese repertoire the crispy beef, and the curry spring rolls and the chicken in radioactively orange sweet and sour sauce have more to do with the mutating influence of Western palates than any long-standing Chinese dining traditions. On the other, there is the nagging sense that we have perhaps swapped one narrow view of a complex food culture for another. Steamy-windowed hotpot franchises, revivalist Hong Kong cafés and Sichuan joints abound. It is undoubtedly a richer, more varied and culturally faithful landscape, but it is also one that is largely a product of trend-chasing, financial viability and the influential dining proclivities of Weibo-scrolling overseas students.

At Hainan House, however, things are different. Founded by rookie restaurateur Sunny Wu, this newish Islington spot seeks to illuminate the gastronomic tendencies of Hainan province for no other reason than the fact that no one else is really doing it. The flavours are both mellow and highly unexpected; there is a persistent, twanging bass note of deep, fermented funk.