Three Uncles Fifth Opening To Be Largest Site Yet
Siu Mei Masters, Three Uncles, will open their biggest location in Ealing this September.
The new restaurant, in Ealing, will mark the independently owned group’s fifth location and continue Three Uncles’ growth strategy to serve residential neighbourhoods authentic Cantonese dishes.
The new 50-cover 1,450 sq ft restaurant is located in Ealing’s Filmworks, taking the final unit and completing the development’s food offering. The modern space is in keeping with Three Uncles’ bold design and will see a fully glass-fronted open-plan dining room (seating 30) with an outdoor terrace (seating 20) extending into the pedestrianised area.
Ealing will also see the launch of their new “18-Districts” concept, a rotating menu that introduces Hong Kong’s favourite dishes as specials in addition to the house-roasted and chopped-to-order Cantonese meats Three Uncles are famous for.
“Our 18-Districts menu concept is our opportunity to serve a collection of Hong Kong’s favourite dishes to our customers, from the traditional, such as salted duck eggs, to the more modern, like our oven-baked pork chop on rice. We will offer these dishes for a limited time, and if the concept is well received by Ealing, we will introduce this at our other locations,” says Mo Kwok (Uncle Mo).
The inaugural 18-Districts menu will include chee cheong fun served with sesame sauce, sweet soy and chilli, Three Uncles prawn toast, curry beef brisket on rice, oven-baked pork chop on rice, salted duck eggs, mango pudding, and deep-fried custard buns.
This new west London location adds to Three Uncles’ growing group of independently owned takeaway kiosks and restaurants in the North (Hawley Wharf Market), South (Brixton Village), East (Liverpool Street), and Central (St Paul’s).
“We plan to grow slowly and carefully while maintaining quality with the aim of opening two to three shops annually with an ultimate goal of ten sites”, says Chong Yew (Uncle Lim), “we also hope to beat our record week of 1,100 ducks sold in one week across all sites!” he adds.
Three Uncles will add a third beer to their range unique to their Ealing location and produced in partnership with Belleville Brewing, Battersea. The beer will join Three Uncles Triple 8 Lager and the Three Uncles Session IPA, all designed to pair with the sweet-savoury-spicy flavour profiles of the Cantonese dishes.
A soft launch will offer 50% off the menu, including drinks, for dining-in customers with reservations made in advance via the Three Uncles Ealing dedicated page: threeuncles.co.uk/ealing.
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Editors Notes
Address
Three Uncles Ealing, Unit 3A Filmworks Walk, London, W5 5FA
Opening Hours
Midday – 10.30 pm, seven days a week
Web & Links
instagram.com/three.uncles
threeuncles.co.uk
Packaging
All packaging is plastic-free
Three Uncles Beer
Triple 8 Lager
Subtle malt sweetness layered with crisp, dry hops notes of lemon and spice.
Three Uncles Session IPA
Notes of citrus and berry aroma palate cleansing bitterness.
£4.95 | 330ml
Original Menu
Sui Mei
Roast Duck: £14
Char Siu: £11
Sui Yuk: £12
All dishes are served with pak choi and steamed jasmine rice
Sui Mei Combo
Any two meats: £13.50
Any three meats: £15.50
All dishes are served with pak choi and steamed jasmine rice
Special Sauces: Soy & Rock Sugar, Plum Sauce, Ginger & Spring Onion Sauce, Hainan Chilli Vinegar Sauce, HK Chilli Oil (all £1).
Hainan Chicken Rice
Served with pak choi: £12.50
Lo Mein
Topped with Wonton & Char Siu: £12.50
Topped with Beef Brisket & Mooli: £12.50
Topped with Roast Duck & Char Siu: £13.50
Dim Sum
Mushroom & Pak Choi Bao: £5.25 (2 pieces)
Lamb Dumplings in Chilli Vinegar: £6.95 (5 pieces)
Pork & Prawn Siu Mai: £5.75 (4 pieces)
Wontons in Chilli Oil: £6.50 (5 pieces)
Curry Fishballs with Uncle Lim’s Secret Curry Sauce: £5.25 (4 pieces)
About Three Uncles
Childhood friends and chefs Chong Yew (Uncle Lim), Pui Sing Tsang (Uncle Sidney), and Mo Kwok (Uncle Mo) have built a reputation over the past three years from their small takeaway kiosk in Liverpool Street (2019) and Camden’s Hawley Wharf Market (2021). They specialise in homemade chopped-to-order Cantonese Roast Duck, Crispy Pork Belly (Siu Yuk), and Char Siu Pork. They were inspired by their almost daily habit of spending hours at Siu Mei spots while growing up in Hong Kong in the 1970s.
“Siu Mei brings back treasured memories for us. Growing up in Hong Kong in the 1970s, we would visit the famous roast meat cafes near Wan Chai market and watch the skilled chefs chopping delicious chunks of roast duck and char siu pork.”
Mo Kwok (Uncle Mo)
Three Uncles Business Insight
The business has generally improved steadily since COVID-19 and year on year; Three Uncles has grown 20% on average across all sites.
- Liverpool Street is currently the top-performing site.
- Three Uncles found that the quick service (counter) model is more profitable than the restaurant format, with fewer staff overheads while maintaining good spend per head.
- Delivery is now a significant part of Three Uncles business; they don’t see this changing.
- With office workers not returning to five-day working patterns, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are the busiest days at all Three Uncles sites.
- Repeat custom is vital to Three Uncles; they have seen a good mix of diners. They are currently around 50/50 split between Asian and non-Asian customers.
- Three Uncles recognise the importance of bringing their customer base with them as they expand.
- The record week was 1,100 ducks sold in one week across all three sites.
- Three Uncles will start to look at adjusting their management team in the future with the introduction of Area Managers.
Company History
August 2019 – Launch, Liverpool Street
September 2021 – Hawley Wharf Market, Camden
March 2022 – Brixton Market, Brixton
November 2023 – Old Bailey, St Pauls
September 2024 – Filmworks, Ealing
Menu Secrets
Auntie Jun’s Char Siu Sou
Handmade by Uncle Sidney’s cousin, who is famed for her baked sweet BBQ pork pastries. “We are fortunate to have convinced Auntie Jun to make her Char Siu Sou, flaky on the outside and tender and meaty on the inside, just as they should be,” says Pui Sing Tsang (Uncle Sidney).
Curry Fishballs
Traditional Hong Kong-style fishballs are served with Uncle Lim’s secret curry sauce.
Char Siu
The Char Siu starts with British pork collar, to which a combination of twelve herbs and spices are used as a marinade before adding a secret recipe marinade. Then follows a laborious 6-step technique (marinate on the inside, rub on the outside, fan dry, roast, rest, and serve) that includes 48-hour marinating to impart flavour and roasting in an oven imported from Hong Kong.
Press Quotes
Included in “Best Chinese Restaurants in London”
Olive Magazine (2021), Evening Standard (2023), Time Out (2023)
“The modernist brevity of its offering yields cooking of immense focus, skill and real endorphin-spiking intensity. It is ancient artistry, sharpened by its placement in a slick new frame.”
Jimi Famurewa, Evening Standard
“…at Cantonese roasted meats specialist Three Uncles near Liverpool Street I embrace thrumming wontons in red chilli oil.”
Fay Maschler, Evening Standard
“A real expertise in the laborious techniques (marinating, poaching, drying, glazing, roasting, dinner and a movie etc) used to make crispy duck or belly pork, sweet char siu and fragrant Hainan-style chicken. Everything was good – but the roast meats were superb…A particular hit was Hainan chicken…But for want of a cleverer phrase, it’s just profoundly, soul-soothingly chickeny.”
Keith Miller, Telegraph
“Elite Cantonese roast meat”
Eater London
“Meat, bronzed and tender, arrives heaped on mounds of snowy steamed jasmine rice and pak choi, char siu sou – plump pastries filled with char siu pork – and bouncy, tender fish balls served with curry sauce.”
Olive Magazine
“They’ve got a hell of a reputation for their Cantonese roasted meats.”
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