United Kingdom

London

Four Winds Mahjong Club

There's a growing demand for digital detox spaces across London, and mahjong is playing an important role in offering people new ways to 

 A Chinese tile game that dates from the 19th century, 

 is experiencing a renaissance as younger generations take up the game to preserve and celebrate cultural traditions.

After a few hugely popular intro lessons, the founders of Four Winds Mahjong Club made gaming a weekly fixture at the ESEA Community Centre. Now, every Saturday, the space hums with the rhythmic click of tiles as Four Winds brings together a new generation of players.

"The sound of the tiles is quite nostalgic for people. It’s linked to lineage and personal history.” says 

In this guide, Four Winds highlights some of their favourite East and Southeast Asian-owned businesses in the city. Much like mahjong isn’t just about playing a game, and community centres are more than physical spaces, these spots are hubs where stories are shared, people are connected and culture is celebrated.

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Located in Dalston, ESEA Community Centre (ESEACC) is the new incarnation of Hackney Chinese Community Services, which has served as the local hub for East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) communities for over 30 years. The centre hosts lunch clubs for the elderly, provides advice services, as well as a social space for karaoke, table tennis and Chinese tabletop games. 

The Steam Room has developed a local cult following in the neighbourhood since Tony Chung took over his father’s takeaway on Kingsland Road in 2004. Since then, Tony and his wife Fran have turned it into a dry cleaning business, housing a shop that supports and sells merch from local East and Southeast Asian creatives, as well as an event space in the basement, which has hosted supper clubs, pop up restaurants and more. Spot Four Winds members wearing their iconic Mahjong Club t-shirt with Tony’s face on it!

Yiran Duan, grew up on an indigo farm in Dali, southwest China, and founded Yi Crafts in 2019. Yi Crafts runs traditional craft workshops, such as embroidery, stitching, natural dyeing, woodblock printing, paper cutting, and sells beautiful artisanal wares made using traditional techniques by Chinese ethnic minorities like the Bai ethnic minority, which Yiran and her family are members of. Some of us attended Yiran’s Chinese knot-making workshop over Lunar New Year!

Sik Faan is a family-run cafe in Kentish Town, owned by David Chu, who used to volunteer with us at Four Winds! You’ll find hearty Cantonese and Vietnamese comfort food, such as bao, pho, rice and bowls, as well as mahjong socials on Saturday afternoons.

When would you ever have the chance to see an exhibition on food replicas and buy all the cool Japanese stationery you never knew you needed!? Japan House is a great place to learn about Japanese culture and its traditions. They’ve always got interesting exhibitions and amazing craft demonstrations for you to enjoy.

You can't visit London without visiting its legendary Chinatown, home to a host of East and Southeast Asian restaurants, bakeries, and dessert parlours. We love a good dim sum hang at Golden Phoenix, New Loon Fung, Tao Tao Ju and Lido. Make sure to also visit Guanghwa, the UK's only brick and mortar Chinese bookshop, open since 1971 and which also hosts calligraphy workshops, painting and seal carving.

My Neighbours the Dumplings is a family run Chinese dumpling house. They specialise in handmade dumplings, rolled fresh everyday in Hackney. Although not strictly a dim sum restaurant, they follow the dim sum style of eating; lots of small dishes that are shared among the table. When Four Winds first started, we used to host monthly Sunday sessions at MNTD — last year we even hosted Mahjong Singles Nights there! 

Popular among the Four Winds members, Cernamic is a pottery studio based in Stoke Newington and Deptford founded by ceramists Nam Tran and Susi Huang. There’s a strong sense of community at Cernamic and one of their missions is to make pottery accessible to anyone willing to give it a try by keeping classes affordable and membership diverse. Try a taster class or go for their multi-week beginners’ courses.

If you want to experience the hustle and bustle of a typical Asian food court this is the place to be! Want to start off your meal with some Korean fried chicken only to wash it down with some traditional Indian masala dosa? Bang Bang Oriental Foodhall has you covered! We’ve been known to make the pilgrimage to Bang Bang Oriental on occasion – one of our committee members goes to Golden Dragon with her parents for a good old fashioned Canto dinner too. If somehow you are still looking for more food after your visit, check out the directory for ESEA food businesses, a list of caterers, restaurants and ESEA businesses, compiled by writer and community organiser Jenny Lau aka Celestial Peach. 

Lahpet is a Burmese restaurant with locations in Shoreditch, Covent Garden and Bermondsey; our fave dishes include the tea leaf salad and hake masala. Head chef Min Maung also sometimes volunteers at ESEA Cooks for the Community, a volunteer-led supper club hosted at Camden Chinese Community Centre where all the proceeds go towards the centre — we were lucky enough to enjoy a five-course Burmese dinner cooked by Min himself!

Sik Faan

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