Ming from the wok · Camden, 1998

Where & when

• Camden Town Chinese takeaway · London · United Kingdom 1998–2000 behind the hatch on Friday nights

About them then

Ming · about 23 then

The cook at the back of our takeaway, a stocky man in his early twenties with burn scars on both forearms and a laugh like a car horn. He sang along to Cantopop with a wooden spoon for a microphone and never once burned the rice.

Who I was then

The new girl on the counter who could not tell a Chinese five-spice from a ketchup bottle.

Why I'm writing

To reconnect · Just hoping to know they're well

For two winters we worked the Friday rush together, me on the counter shouting orders, you behind the hatch shouting back. When the boss cut my hours, you sneaked extra boxes of rice into my bag every night and pretended it was a mistake. Then I moved to Manchester for university and we swapped addresses on a till receipt that I lost on the coach. I still smell soy sauce and think of Camden.

Passed on by 1 · reached step 1 · 2 keeping an eye out