You can watch the chefs hard at work in the open kitchen
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06:00, 2 MAY 2026
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There’s no hiding for chef Ethan Ho at his new restaurant U. Canteen.
Diners can watch him in action as they sit around the counter overlooking the open kitchen.
As is the custom in Chinatown restaurants, the crispy-skinned ducks can be seen hanging from hooks on the back wall (a perfectly safe method) ready and waiting for the dishes with soup noodles or rice.
Frying and noodle-making go on in the tiny narrow kitchen, where a massive steel drum of bone broth is simmering away.
Nottingham used to have a popular restaurant called U. Canteen in Hockley for eight years until 2023 and those who frequented it wondered if it might be a return of the old favourite.
However, this is a brand new business with the same name — the U. stands for university and the restaurant is modelled on the style of canteens used by students. Not that you need to be a student to eat here.
The 12-seater eatery on Beeston’s High Road has a menu combining Cantonese and Japanese flavours.
Ethan Ho was previously a chef at Shanghai, Shanghai in Nottingham city centre for 13 years. When the restaurant, in Goose Gate, was visited by the acclaimed Sunday Times food critic Giles Coren in 2014, he hailed it “the best Sichuan cooking I have had outside China”.
It was Ethan’s dream to open his own restaurant, choosing Beeston because it’s close to his home and the fact the town is home to thousands of Chinese and Hong Kong students who are at the University of Nottingham.
He said: “I worked at Shanghai, Shanghai for so many years and hoped to be seen one day so that’s why I’ve opened an open kitchen.
“Japanese and Hong Kong people are usually very healthy and live long because we take care of our food very carefully. The bone broth is simmered for four or five hours and we put no MSG in it.
“The customer sees everything so it’s very clean and detailed. If food hygiene is five stars, this is ten.”
The menu starts off with starters such as spring rolls, gyoza, takoyaki (balls filled with octopus), fried chicken wings and chicken skewers.
Japanese-style bento boxes have compartments filled with rice and Cantonese roast duck, chicken katsu curry, honey roasted pork, salmon or tofu teriyaki.
The signature dishes are big steaming hot bowls of broth and freshly-made noodles served with pork, duck, shrimp wonton, tori karrage (fried chicken) and beef with pickled cabbage.
No alcohol is served, instead customers can sip Asian drinks including plum juice, homemade lemon tea, Hong Kong style milk tea or Coca Cola.
Manager Andrea Wong said they’d had a warm reception from locals in the town. “People in Beeston are very, very nice. I feel very comfortable and happy,” she said.
Customer Xu Yu, who lives in Bramcote and is a missionary at a Chinese church, said: “I can see the chef doing everything. I’ve eaten here before.
“I had the beef noodles. It’s very authentic and it’s a different experience. You feel like you’re connected to the chef and that means the food comes to life. It’s not simply food.”
U. Canteen is open every day except Tuesdays; weekdays noon to 9pm and Sundays noon to 8pm.
U. Canteen in Beeston 1 of 9ShareComments
U. Canteen in Beeston
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Customers sit overlooking the kitchen 2 of 9ShareComments
Customers sit overlooking the kitchen
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The small restaurant can seat 12 people 3 of 9ShareComments
The small restaurant can seat 12 people
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Ducks hanging in the kitchen 4 of 9ShareComments
Ducks hanging in the kitchen
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Prawn spring rolls, chicken skewers and homemade lemon tea5 of 9ShareComments
Prawn spring rolls, chicken skewers and homemade lemon tea
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Roast duck with soup noodles and chicken gyozas6 of 9ShareComments
Roast duck with soup noodles and chicken gyozas
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Beef noodles 7 of 9ShareComments
Beef noodles
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Tori karrage soup noodles 8 of 9ShareComments
Tori karrage soup noodles
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Ethan Ho with the freshly made noodles 9 of 9ShareComments
Ethan Ho with the freshly made noodles
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food&drink
Eating Out in Nottingham
Beeston