Hidden London: Yi-Ban, the Chinese restaurant that’s a plane spotter’s paradise

Ah yes, the restaurant. Here is a long and grand space, airy and light thanks to a wall of bright windows. There’s white linen, visibly not new, and a few Chinese ornaments alongside dashes of red and gold. The cocktails are remarkable as they should be, the sort found in a three-star hotel in Ibiza or in a karaoke bar in a cobblestoned town near Tours in family camping France. Our mojitos were sweet but pleasing. And the food, hey, perfectly ordinary — actually marginally above — in the best possible way: crisp prawn toast, sesame-crusted chicken, minced pork heavy with garlic, soy and imbued tightly with ginger to be wrapped in lettuce leaf cups that glistened delicately with a dockland dew. And then Singapore noodles, a triumph, a generous bowl full of shrimp and strands of old char sui and joyfully golden.