Hatch: New Soho restaurant serves Cantonese crepes through a hole in the wall

Breakfast, lunch and dinner — that seems a tall order to prepare from one tiny window on Greek Street in Soho. Still, the secret of the Pleasant Lady Jianbing Trading Stall is that size isn’t everything, and that big things come in small, crepe-based packages.

From this Thursday the unassuming Cantonese-style hatch will pop open daily between 11.30am and 8.30pm. It’s an elegant window illustrated with Mandarin calligraphy, which will serve traditional jianbing.

“Jianbing is basically a breakfast food, but it’s also the most popular street food in China,” says Z He, who also owns neighbouring Hong Kong-style speakeasy Bun House with co-founder Alex Peffly. The last character of He’s name roughly means “pleasant lady” in Mandarin, hence the hatch’s title.

“Sometimes I call them Chinese burritos, or breakfast baps,” He elaborates. “We make the ‘crepe’ with more than 10 different types of grain, with signature crisps made from deep- fried wonton skin and a sauce made with fermented beans, sesame paste, cilantro and peanut butter to spice things up.” Curious? For this week only jianbing will be £1, usually they will start from £6.

Depending on its popularity with late-night Soho denizens — and you wouldn’t bet against it being a hit — they may open later on Fridays and Saturdays. “To me it’s the best hangover cure, best breakfast, best dinner, best late-night supper snack, the best thing to line your stomach with mid-drinking,” says He.

Downsizing is bang on trend. The future of cities, according to Ikea Group’s latest market research, is one where people have little to spare — both in their wallets and in terms of space. A cheap, cheerful hole-in-the-wall is therefore right on the money. “It’s good student food in China, where they make them with sliced hot dogs and other packaged ingredients,” says He. “It’s cheap but not so good on the stomach — like having baked beans every day for breakfast.”

Beyond the basic crepe there are three meat options: cumin lamb, miso chicken and Iberico pork. “Iberico pork is obviously not traditional, but that would hold us back,” says Peffly. “Tradition holds back a lot of things. If you always made the dish the same way you’d have a pretty boring palate. We’re throwing tradition to the wayside but keeping the authenticity.”

The jianbing has its own feeding the five thousand narrative in Chinese folklore. A chancellor in Shandong Province was tasked with feeding an army of soldiers who’d lost their woks, and so ordered cooks to spread a mixture of water and wheat flour batter over a copper griddle over a fire. The impromptu dish was so loved by the soldiers that they fought their way out of an ambush. “Put simply, after one of these you’re ready for whatever the day can throw at you,” says He. Mouth-watering, marinated Cantonese pork and fresh cilantro and pickles mulch pleasantly amidst the springy pancake wrap.

But why stop by here when you have the whole of Chinatown around the corner? “Quality sets it apart,” says He. “I went on a tour to try all the jianbing available in Chinatown. Its a comfort food, so from time to time we go get one. But you have the feeling it’s missing something. After you eat it you don’t feel good because the ingredients aren’t as fresh as the ones we use.”

“In Chinatown the problem is their dedication to a dish,” says Peffly. “They have a menu of 400 items, so how can they possibly devote the attention that is required to make a dish consistently good?” The mono menu here gets around that.

There are already plans to grow. “When you look around in China none of the best places to eat are restaurants — they’re all holes in the wall or the stands next to restaurants,” says He. “When we went to school we’d look for that ‘pleasant lady’ by the parking lot. We’d love to expand. Find other hatches. In China it’s very transient because you never know when they’re going to be open. The difference is, we’re always here, rain or shine.”

Three of London's best holes-in-the-walls

Jianbing may be the new-ish thing but Bun House don’t have a monopoly on food-serving holes in walls. Here are some further picks from the hatch batch.

Bird, Kingsland Road, E2

Fried chicken fanatics Bird has a doughnut hatch — a fire escape side door distributing grab-and-go pastries. birdrestaurants.com

Kiosk, Euston Road, N1

Hot roast sandwiches including hand-carved turkey, pork or salt-beef sold from a hatch on the ground floor of the historic Great Northern Hotel. kingscrosskiosk.com

Patty & Bun, Liverpool Street, EC2

Burger joint with a hatch for City workers on the go, from the spicy Jose Jose chilli burger to the veggie Portobello “Dig It” mushroom burger. pattyandbun.co.uk