Ho Lee Fook & Fook Mei :'It isn't your bog-standard kind of food'

The Herald Scotland

2 days ago

Try it, and you'll understand the urge to share the experience with friends, or why queues now form outside McFarlane Street come rain or shine on the weekends.
Pictured: Ho Lee Fook serves some of Glasgow's best street food (Image: Robert Perry) 'The East End attracts people from all walks of life,' Lee Chung says of their location in the shadow of the historic Barrowland Ballroom.
'You've got hipster types, proper old school Glaswegians and a younger student crowd.
'Every single person who comes to eat with us is different.'
Long before Ho Lee Fook came to be in 2023, the duo grew up as 'takeaway kids', learning skills from family members which would ultimately go on to shape their future in ways they had never imagined.
'My mum and dad are from Hong Kong, as are Johnny's, and both of us basically grew up in takeaways.
'Although I wasn't working in them at first, from a young age, I was used to being in these sorts of fast-paced and chaotic environments.
'I never thought I would actually do it for myself, but I suppose no matter how hard you try, we all slowly end up turning into our mothers.' Chung laughs.
Pictured: Ho Lee Fook can be found directly over the road from The Barras (Image: Robert Perry)
While their peers might have been eating sandwiches, Lee and Johnny spent their adolescence munching on dim sum, noodles, and dishes that 'felt like home to them' while surrounded by the rich, aromatic flavours of traditional Asian cooking.
Four months of travelling Southeast Asia together after they met later planted the seed for a fusion street food spot of their own, but first, they would spend close to 10 years at the helm of popular Airdrie Chippy, Off the Hook.
'We had great relationships with our team and customers, so it was really sad to leave,' Chung says of their decision to move on.
'During our time there, we got married, three days before opening the chippy, and then had our honeymoon in the chippy, popped out two kids, got some awards and worked through the pandemic.
"It really was our first baby.
'But we were paying such high rents and rates that we decided to look into doing our own thing.
'That's when we happened across a little unit at The Barras.'
Due to the tiny footprint of this space, Lee and Johnny had the chance to test out their new concept for Asian street food dishes without worrying about excessive overheads or recruiting other staff members.
'The plan was just to give it a go and see how we got on,' she explains.
'It's crazy how it's all taken off.'
Following in the footsteps of neighbouring businesses like The Gate, Scran, Smokey Trotters, Ho Lee Fook brought a whole new energy to the area, strengthening the food offerings available around The Barras and ultimately attracting more visitors to the market on weekends.
'Because our place is so small, when the queues start, there can sometimes be a wait.
'But with The Barras so close by, people don't mind going for a rummage around the market until their order is ready.
'I love seeing what they come back with. It could be a couple of coffees or a kitchen chair or something, you just never know.'
In the two short years since they served their first portions of hand-stretched Biang Biang Taiwanese Noodles in chilli oil and tonkatsu sandos, the team at Ho Lee Fook has celebrated the arrival of many talented new street food vendors at The Barras.
'Even since we opened, there have been so many cool food places that have joined the market," Chung muses.
'If we weren't so busy, I would have been out to try every single one of them by now.
'There's the Crumbleologist, Bolt Burgers or Gyros from Greek Street Yeeros.
'And of course, there are the ones who were here before us, like the guy who does fish balls or rice noodles and stuff.
'It isn't just your bog-standard kind of food. You can taste everything and everything at The Barras– it's mad.'
There's now an exciting new chapter on the horizon for Ho Lee Fook, following the announcement that they will soon open a second location nearby on London Road.
'The shop is not big enough for us now, and we need a prep kitchen,' she says
'So we're opening up a noodle and sando bar in the unit that used to belong to Scran before they relocated."
The name of their new venture, Fook Mei (translating to 'Luck, taste') is in keeping with the tongue-in-cheek and lighthearted approach to their work that has helped Lee and Johnny Chung establish themselves as one of Glasgow's most celebrated street food spots.
'I think the name Ho Lee Fook [which translates as good, wealth, luck] has a lot to do with people finding out about us at The Barras," Chung says.
'It obviously means something in Chinese, but it's also a bit cheeky, gets people talking and feels really suited to where we are in the East End.
"But, there's nothing gimmicky about our food.
"We pour our heart and soul into our cooking, and we're really lucky that people have enjoyed it."
Ho Lee Fook is located at 1 McFarlane Street in Glasgow.
Find them on social media @holeefook