Pacific Plaza Wembley – Oriental City reincarnated

NB: PACIFIC PLAZA IS NOW SADLY CLOSED…

Oriental City was a truly brilliant place. Its main attraction was its hawker style food court where you could eat any type of food, cooked in a home-style way, from all over Asia. It was good unpretentious food, at a good price cooked by someone who loved what they did. It was the only place in London like it. People came from all over to eat there. I ate there almost every week, sometimes twice a week for many years with it being my second home. I got to know some of the stall owners. I knew I could always find whatever food I craved at Oriental City. My favourites were the Malaysian stall, the Thai stall next to it and the Sri Lankan place. For me, nothing beat the Nasi Goreng Kampung and the spicy potatoes you could get at the Malaysian stall.

As news of its closure got round, people began flocking to the place and a new sense of inspiration and pride came over tenants. Toward its final days you could even find someone making fresh noodles which you could have in a bowl of soup just after he had made them, something I have only seen in Hong Kong.

Sadly Oriental City in Collindale closed its doors on May 31st 2008. It was a truly sad day not just for me but for the oriental community in London, and for London as a whole as an important part of London’s soul and what makes the city great was lost. The reason it was closed was to make may for poxy flats, a gym and a couple of other things that London really doesn’t need when compared with a place that enriched culture as much as this.

Most of the stall owners have relocated a set their businesses back up. The supermarket is in Bayswater, one of the stall owners in down the road at a restaurant called Ferrengi Bay, another has opened in Northwood Hills. The malaysian stall has reopened near Milton Keynes somewhere – I will try and find out where. (see a recent comment below for a link to more info)

Two years on, the site remains closed. No development work has taken place. Nothing, except the empty shell of what was a great place. What a waste.

Earlier this year however, I was looking at the facebook page for ‘Save Oriental City’ to find out if there was anymore news on it re-opening as there were rumours going round and by chance a similar style of place has opened in Wembley called Pacific Plaza. That day, I dropped whatever I was doing and went to check it out, I was quite excited.

Its located near Wembley Stadium on Engineers Way, HA9 0EG in the retail park. There is parking outside. Its open from 10am to 10pm.

Pacific Plaza has been opened by one of the previous tenants at Oriental City.

Downstairs as you walk in you will find Tetote Japanese Bakery which produces some really good bread etc, a novelty goods shop and the fanastic Utsuwa No Ya, the famous Japanese pottery / kitchenware shop from Oriental City. I was really happy to see Utsuwa No Ya back in action. The supermarket has yet to open and I think this will really help in driving more visitors to this place – but things seem to be taking longer than they planned from talking to some of the food stall owners.

Upstairs in the food court as you walk in on your left you will find

Shan – Japanese, Chinese, Steam-Boat and more. The chef is quite friendly.
Hot Korean – Really good Korean food. The owner Joshua is really nice and I think the new chef used to be the one at the Korean place at Oriental City. Their Bibimbaps are really good as is the spicy chicken! To be honest most of the time when I go to Pacific Plaza, I just eat there.
Selamati – Malaysian food. I had the chicken curry and it was good. the roti canai wasn’t bad either.
China House – BBQ Meat, Dim Sum, Chinese Food – this place occupies the entire back wall and seems to be the most popular next to the Hot Korean. The stall belongs to the owner of Pacific Plaza. I’ve eaten there a couple of times and its really good. You get pretty good portions for what you pay. The roast chicken with rice and pak choi is good as are some of the dim sum.
Spicy Thai – not eaten here yet but they seem popular and the chef is happy and smiley which is a good sign.
Nambu – serving up Japanese rice bowls – not eaten here yet. They do need to smile more.
and another place I only know by the orange t-shirt staff. My uncle ate there and said it was quite good.

The thai place Sawadee closed – I suspect due to low sales and not enough people. There are still a few empty spaces, which are waiting for people to move in. I think they’ll move in once the supermarket is there as there will be more people visiting however saying that most of the stalls have done ok so far just on word of mouth. A friend of mine visited and walked out as it was too quiet and she thought it might be closed. She then called me and I told her its busiest on weekends and lunch times, but most weekday evenings its quiet at the moment.

From the looks of it there will be a indian veggie place, a vietnamese place and a couple of others so looking forward to them opening as at the moment the place is a little barren. The owners really do need to do more marketing too but once its fully up and running, and people are flowing in, it will be really good. I’m really glad someone has finally done something about it and opened this place up but there is still a long way to go.

Its worth a visit. The more people that support it, the better. You won’t be disappointed!