The Legend of the LSE Fried Rice | Old Town 97 | Chinatown | London

Quite frankly, I can’t think of many urban food legends quite like the LSE Fried Rice. I had heard about it from friends raving about it - usually more of a way to sober up after a night out on the town - and I was absolutely intrigued.

Of all things, why fried rice, and why is it so legendary?

LSE Fried Rice

Interestingly, there is a puff piece on the LSE website itself describing it as something to try when you’re in Central London. The urban legend is that this was a dish shared by LSE Students - as it’s fairly nearby (around a 15-minute walk) - and it has fundamentally become the must-have secret menu item that isn’t quite so secret anymore.

What I find hilarious is that it genuinely isn’t in the menu, and the only thing that you can see in the menu is in fact a picture of the LSE Fried Rice - but not accompanied by a price or a description. It is basically honey and black pepper pork accompanied by classic egg fried rice.

Personally, I caught wind of this from a friend (non-LSE student), who usually came here after drinks at night. This is convenient because Old Town 97 is open up to 3:30 am every day - and you can kind of see why it is the perfect midnight snack. Very filling, very eggy, and a very fatty meal (when you put it all together) that will help you put you in a food coma almost instantly.

Personally, I would describe it as very light and classic fried rice, topped with a fried egg, accompanied by honey and black pepper pork in basically what is a “Wat Tan Hor” sauce on the side. The fried rice is simple but delicious, and the eggyness from the sauce makes it super appetizing and almost hard to stop eating once you start eating.

Portion-size, I would say that it is probably 1.25 portions. I would say that me and my girlfriend finished the LSE Fried Rice and a roasted meat with rice (2 meats) fairly easily.

I’ve seen a articles online that say that the LSE Fried Rice is 9.50 pounds, but I guess due to the effects of inflation, the price is now 10.80 pounds when I visited (July ‘22). There’s also a 10% service charge.

Roasted Meat with Rice

I think their roasted meat with rice is decent too. It does give me that taste of home for me (although it’s probably more reflective of a Hong Kong-style roasted meat with rice). The meat, combined with the sauce is really good - although I almost wish they gave a bit more sauce (because I like my rice with more sauce - you can see most of the rice is not slathered in sauce). Probably a decent place to go if you haven’t had roasted meats in a long while. If you just came over from Malaysia, for example, it might be underwhelming.

Total Bill

Here’s our bill, just for you to take a look:

Thoughts

Fantastic for a middle-of-the-night snack - it’s one of the few restaurants open at that hour - and if you’re coming in the daytime, maybe it is worth trying just once just to satisfy your curiosity. I think apart from that, there are plenty of other fantastic options available in Chinatown for you to chow down on. Just an additional note, they got our drink wrong, but they corrected it promptly. There are some complaints on Tripadvisor, etc. , about service but it wasn’t a complaint on my side.