Harden's survey result
Summary
“Go through the doors and instantly get barked at – how many? Then, an instruction is growled: ‘Upstairs!’” The ritual of a meal at this famous Chinatown veteran, has elements of self-conscious parody (you can actually buy a T-shirt saying ‘upstairs’), but remains relatively ‘real’: a loose pact between its infamously “rude” and dismissive staff and students, theatre-goers and hungry workers in search of cheap, Chinese chow. “You are unlikely to get any smiles as you find yourself at a shared table, in a crammed-in dining area with plates piled high with deliciously smelly food being slammed onto various tables – they want you to be decisive, eat, and get out as soon as possible” – but it’s “a fantastic filler”.
Summary
“Go through the doors and instantly get barked at – how many? Then, an instruction is growled: ‘Upstairs!’” The ritual of a meal at this famous Chinatown veteran, has elements of self-conscious parody (you can actually buy a T-shirt saying ‘upstairs’), but remains relatively ‘real’: a loose pact between its infamously “rude” and dismissive staff and students, theatre-goers and hungry workers in search of cheap, Chinese chow. “You are unlikely to get any smiles as you find yourself at a shared table, in a crammed-in dining area with plates piled high with deliciously smelly food being slammed onto various tables – they want you to be decisive, eat, and get out as soon as possible” – but it’s “a fantastic filler”.
Summary
“Always an experience… so long as you are prepared for shared tables and bordering-on-rude staff” – this “functional” multi-storey Chinatown canteen “is the perfect place for a quick, filling, tasty meal amidst a chaotic, bustling backdrop” and as you can get “unlimited free tea” and “a massive plate of food for under a tenner – you can’t go wrong!” “OK, it’s not for the lingering, romantic tete-a-tete… so what?”
Summary
“Service atrocious, ambience zero… but you can’t beat their steaming bowls with change from £10 in central London!” This famous – and famously rude – multi-storey canteen in Chinatown “goes from strength to strength” thanks to its “ultra-cheap”, and “incredibly reliable” chow. Abuse from the staff is so institutionalised “you can even buy a T-shirt with ‘upstairs, downstairs’ which is what they bark at you when you enter”, but in recent years some regulars claim the treatment here is “more polite than in the past”.
For 31 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).
Have you eaten at Wong Kei?
Restaurant details
Prices
 Drinks |
|
|---|---|
| Wine per bottle | £13.00 |
| Filter Coffee | £1.50 |
41-43 Wardour St, London, W1D 6PY
Opening hours
| Monday | 11:30 am‑11:30 pm |
| Tuesday | 11:30 am‑11:30 pm |
| Wednesday | 11:30 am‑11:30 pm |
| Thursday | 11:30 am‑11:30 pm |
| Friday | 11:30 am‑11:30 pm |
| Saturday | 11:30 am‑11:30 pm |
| Sunday | 11:30 am‑10:30 pm |
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