Three Uncles will open their sixth location in Brent Cross later this month.
Their new restaurant will take the lead from East Asian food courts and traditional hawker centres, where it is common to have great food as part of the retail experience.
The new 635 sq ft restaurant is one of seven units within the shopping centre’s new District food hall that offers a selection of vendors around a central dining area. Alongside Three Uncles, confirmed vendors include Pasta Remoli and SMATCHA.
“In Asia, it is common to find great food in shopping centres, so we looked at the food courts and hawker centres for inspiration; the look and feel will be very similar. We are proud to bring authentic Cantonese flavours to the everyday shopping experience, proving that quality, fast, traditional Cantonese food can work everywhere,” says Mo Kwok (Uncle Mo).
Three Uncles will continue their favour for bold design with a powder-coated metal clad fascia with a white tiled counter and industrial stainless steel finishes. Authentic pendant lights have been sourced from Hong Kong, and a large glass bay window will invite customers to watch the chefs as they chop to order.
Address
Three Uncles, Unit 4, District Foodhall, Brent Cross Shopping Centre, Prince Charles Dr, Brent Cross, London NW4 3FP
Soft Launch
A soft launch will offer 50% off one main meal per person (excluding drinks and extras) for the first 500 customers who sign up via the Three Uncles Brent Cross dedicated page: threeuncles.co.uk/brentcross). Limit to one discount per email holder.
Quote
“Three Uncles is going from strength to strength, and we’re excited to expand into more areas of London. Our next stop: Brent Cross, one of North London’s most well-known shopping destinations,” says Chong Yew (Uncle Lim).
Opening Hours
Hours tbc, seven days a week.
The Menu
The Brent Cross menu will offer Three Uncles’ popular classic Sui Mei (Cantonese roast meat) menu of Roast Duck (£14), Crispy Pork Belly (Siu Yuk) (£12) and BBQ Pork (Char Sui) (£11). Additional larger dishes include Hainan Chicken with Rice (£12.50) and Lo Mien Noodles with a choice of three toppings (Wonton and Char Siu, Beef Brisket and Mooli or Roast Duck and Char Siu) ((from £12.50)).
Smaller dishes can be ordered from a menu of six dim sum, including Mushroom & Pak Choi Bao (£5.25) and Lamb Dumplings in Chilli Vinegar (£6.95). Also available at Brent Cross are Uncle Lim’s Curry Fishballs (£5.25) and Shek Wu Hui Chee Cheong Fun (£5), the latter originally an Ealing special that has proved a hit.
Web & Links
instagram.com/three.uncles
http://threeuncles.co.uk
Packaging
All packaging is plastic-free
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 improved steadily yearly; Three Uncles has grown 15% on average across all sites.
- Liverpool Street is currently the top-performing site, and Ealing is the top-performing sit-down restaurant, showing strong demand for our food outside central London.
- 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 the 1,600 ducks sold across all three sites.
- Three Uncles will start 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
March 2025 – Brent Cross Shopping Centre
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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