Charing Cross, Chinese Restaurant Guide

“Expensive, but worth it for a treat!” is the positive view on this West End fixture – part of a Singapore-based group, whose London outpost occupies an expensively converted former banking hall in the West End, whose atmosphere has ended up somewhere between impressive and stilted. “Very good, classic Chinese cuisine is reverently served by a stream of waiters… but the prices!… £200 for Peking duck with caviar anyone?” Indeed, such is the size of the bill that there is a school of thought that the level of value doesn’t stack up and that – irrespective of its many qualities – the overall experience is overpriced and/or disappointing.

2021 Review: “In a crowded Chinatown field”, this three-story Cantonese institution just off Leicester Square “is a dependable crowd-pleaser” with a “good price-to-quality ratio”: “the queues outside speak for its popularity”. Highlights from the “reliable menu” include “fab dim sum every time”, “yummy char sui” and “legendary soft shell crab”, all delivered by staff who “although rushed off their feet are generally smiley and friendly”. Top Tip – “the ground floor is a better experience than the higher floors”.

“Fresh and very tasty dim sum” ensures that this 30-year-old Cantonese over three storeys on the edge of Chinatown “soon fills up with regulars”. “It may be a blessing that the ambience is not exactly chic – it keeps the tourists away”.

2023 Review: “Top egg yolk buns” are a big draw at China-born architect Z He and chef Alex Peffly’s well-known Chinatown pit stop, which provides an “excellent bustling ambience and wonderful heart-filling food”.

With its “marvellous selection of dim sum” raised to a “fantastic” level; “amicable and chatty service”; and its “well-spaced tables”, this low-key-looking venue “stands a cut above the usual Chinatown standard” in all respects.

“It’s worth the spartan interior and mixed service to eat the roast duck and/or char siu pork” at these Cantonese canteens, where “the best roast duck in the world is the claim” – from no less an authority than The FT – “and it must be up there” with “meat and crispy skin so well done (no pun intended)”; and don’t forget “the crispy pork belly – an especial fat-lover’s treat!”. Launched in Queensway 34 years ago, the group now has three venues around Chinatown plus the new Chop Chop nearby in the Hippodrome Casino. Further afield there are outlets in Colindale’s Bang Bang Oriental food hall, Oxford and Leicester.

This “very busy” Cantonese stalwart is “a cut above its rivals” on the Chinatown main drag. There’s “nothing special about the environment, but it serves some of the best and best-value dim sum available in London”.

“The dim sum is pretty good for this price range” (“all the stalwarts are available” as well as one or two “unusual/Hakkasan-like creations”) at this Cantonese stalwart in Chinatown.

“It’s worth the spartan interior and mixed service to eat the roast duck and/or char siu pork” at these Cantonese canteens, where “the best roast duck in the world is the claim” – from no less an authority than The FT – “and it must be up there” with “meat and crispy skin so well done (no pun intended)”; and don’t forget “the crispy pork belly – an especial fat-lover’s treat!”. Launched in Queensway 34 years ago, the group now has three venues around Chinatown plus the new Chop Chop nearby in the Hippodrome Casino. Further afield there are outlets in Colindale’s Bang Bang Oriental food hall, Oxford and Leicester.

“It’s worth the spartan interior and mixed service to eat the roast duck and/or char siu pork” at these Cantonese canteens, where “the best roast duck in the world is the claim” – from no less an authority than The FT – “and it must be up there” with “meat and crispy skin so well done (no pun intended)”; and don’t forget “the crispy pork belly – an especial fat-lover’s treat!”. Launched in Queensway 34 years ago, the group now has three venues around Chinatown plus the new Chop Chop nearby in the Hippodrome Casino. Further afield there are outlets in Colindale’s Bang Bang Oriental food hall, Oxford and Leicester.

2021 Review: In Chinatown’s shiny, new, Central Cross development, this “functional but bright and clean” 150-seater opened in spring 2019, and early days feedback says it’s a good, modern addition to the area. “My wife and I know Shanghai food from both Hong Kong and Shanghai – this is good, with generous portions at good-value prices”. “Staff, despite being rushed off their feet, were pleasant and helpful, though few spoke English”.

“No frills, no smiles but always fast and reliable” – this “Chinatown standby” has fed generations of West End revellers and theatre-goers with “great cheap Cantonese food”, serving up to 500 people at a time over several floors. “Service is not what it was – the staff are no longer rude!” – but “the speed with which scoff arrives at the table remains utterly predictable”. Top Menu Tip – “still love their Singapore noodles”.

“Spicy, authentic Sichuan cuisine” makes this Chinatown destination “worth hunting out” – it’s “way above the bog-standard fare nearby”, with “amazing taste sensations including a lot more besides the fragrant heat of the eponymous Sichuan pepper”. And “friendly staff made choosing from the huge menu easier”. Top Tip – find a table downstairs if you can, to avoid the “weak ambience on the first floor”.

2023 Review: This modern pan-Asian in Covent Garden – an import from NYC – offers “playful dim sum”, alongside other “cut-above” dishes. There are “relaxed long tables for groups or cosy red-checked spots for two diners”, and the atmosphere is set by the “fun 90s playlist and friendly team”.

2023 Review: A “very good” modern take on classic Cantonese cuisine from Z He and Alex Peffly (of Bun House) is presented in an atmospheric “neon-lit underground parlour in Soho, with the menus on newspapers, giving a gentlemen’s club/opium den vibe”.

“Delicious small plates that are unusual, interesting and at times rather spicy” distinguish this Soho and Covent Garden duo presenting the Indo-Chinese cuisine developed by Kolkata’s historic Hakka community.

2023 Review: In the late 1990s, Jonathan Meades in the Times regularly hailed the Harbour City – a previous Cantonese occupant of this site on Chinatown’s main drag – as London’s top choice for dim sum. Now this latest incumbent is receiving similar treatment on the back of an Eater article hailing it as “the trendiest restaurant in central London”. According to The Observer’s Jay Rayner, the new “very different” offering is “the grand, jumpy, thrilling, chilli and numbing peppercorn hullabaloo that those of us addicted to the Sichuan repertoire just adore”.

“A top choice for a Hong-Kong-style café menu” – this “rushed” tearoom on the edge of Chinatown opened in 2022 and serves everything from light bites to full meals from its huge selection of dishes. The food is consistently well rated.