Round Square owners Bing Wen and Simon Wei

CHINESE pensioners travel from outside London to eat and sing karaoke at a Finsbury Park restaurant – but its owners are hoping more regular locals can help keep the doors open.

Bing Wen and Simon Wei have been serving up Cantonese cuisine at Round Square Restaurant since 2023, when they gave up their takeaway business to take on the double-fronted premises in Seven Sisters Road.

Round Square is a hub for elderly Chinese residents, who pre-book one of the two karaoke rooms every other Sunday for the entire year and routinely stay for seven or eight hours, eating, chatting, and singing. Some even travel there from as far afield as Kent.

Ms Wen, who also works as a Mandarin tutor, said: “I can see the lights in their eyes when they’re here – they seem really young. I talk to them, I like them, they are like family. They enjoy their whole days here because we don’t charge for the venue, just for food and drinks.”

For Ms Wen, the karaoke rooms were a big draw when she decided to take on Round Square.

Islington Chinese Association enjoying a meal at Round Square [Miles Rhys Edwards]

“My dad died during the Covid period,” she said. “He had bad Alzheimer’s and I couldn’t go to see him in China. I took on this restaurant to help those older people relax and gather. It’s good for their health, and I think if my father had a chance to do that with friends, he wouldn’t have declined so quickly.”

There are also several regular visiting groups from the Islington Chinese Association, whose co-founder Katy Tse Blair MBE has been a regular at the restaurant since before the current owners took over.

But while pensioners and other regulars keep Round Square busy at weekends, Ms Wen hopes raising the restaurant’s profile locally can boost business on quieter days.

“I really like Finsbury Park but where we are situated is a one-way system, so customers have nowhere to park,” said Ms Wen, adding: “We are a family business, we can’t afford to do promotions, so many local people don’t know us.

“That’s the problem. We’re hoping more local people will notice us.”

Cantonese food – from southern China’s Guangdong province – is lighter and less spicy than dishes from other parts of the country, although Round Square also has a chef from Shanghai, who brings in different flavours.

And the restaurant’s name, while oxymoronic in English, is a nod to Chinese culture – the “rounded” ability to get on well with all sorts of people, with the sharp-edged precision of doing things properly.