Mambow Clapton will open in late October on the site previously occupied by Le Merlin Crêperie on Lower Clapton Road and will have 40 covers in total, with 20 seats inside and another 20 outside in a semi-covered, plant-filled garden terrace.
The restaurant will feature an open kitchen, allowing Lee the freedom to serve a wider menu of contemporary dishes inspired by the chef's own family recipes. There will also be a standing bar area where a small, rotating selection of house cocktails will feature alongside an extended wine list.
“It’s been a lot of fun playing around with the menu in a bigger kitchen and coming up with new dishes,” says Lee.
“People have been so receptive to everything I’ve had on the menu so far, so it’ll be nice to be able to introduce even more Malaysian flavours to everyone who comes down to visit in Clapton.”
Originally positioned as an affordable breakfast and lunch-focused bowl food restaurant, Lee first opened Mambow in London’s Spitalfields in early 2020, but was almost immediately forced to close when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
Last summer she relaunched the concept at Peckham's Market Stalls with a ‘more complete restaurant offering’ and a modern Malaysian focus in reflection of her upbringing in Singapore.
Speaking to Restaurant at the time of the Peckham relaunched, Lee described the decision to pivot the Mambow concept as coming about very organically.
“When I first launched Mambow it was about wanting to offer something casual in a café setting,” she said.
“The food wasn’t personal to me, but I thought the city needed it. During the lockdown, though, after I had been forced to close Spitalfields, there was an awakening within me. I yearned to eat the food from my homeland and revisit it.
“Eventually I made it back to Singapore and relearnt all the recipes from my aunt and my granny. And I realised this was an opportunity for me to relaunch Mambow as a more self-consciously Malaysian concept and show London what this cuisine means to me.”
