Banstead, Chinese Restaurant Guide

Reliably “fabulous” classic Chinese dining makes this offshoot of a London-based group (founded in Chelsea in 1979 and now with eight branches) a long-time “favourite for a special occasion” in the Surrey ’burbs – even if its appeal is “a little dated” for followers of fashion. Top Tip – “there’s a very good-value set lunch”.

“Reliable, high-quality Chinese fare” is the hallmark of this family-run operation now in its fifth decade, with five outlets in well-heeled parts of the capital. “Not all the food is authentic Chinese cuisine, but it is all immaculately prepared and as fresh as you like”, and comes with a “polite welcome and attentive service”. “A cut above – prices are to match”. Holland Kwok opened the original on Chelsea’s King’s Road in 1979, closely followed by branches in Esher, Mill Hill and Knightsbridge, then Wandsworth Common in 2011. He now runs the company with his son Andrew. Top Tip – “weekday lunch is exceptionally good value”.

2023 Review: “Top-class Chinese food, served in canteen-style surroundings” has arrived in Balham with the pandemic-delayed opening of this first solo project from Chi San, former right-hand man to Alan Yau of Yauatcha and Hakkasan fame. The relatively short menu is filled with standard dishes from the Cantonese culinary canon, modernised through the use of high-quality produce, and there’s an interesting selection of beers, wines and teas.

2025 Review: “Great dim sum” and “fast and efficient service” ensure this Oriental spot is “always packed” – “I’m of Chinese descent and this is the best and most authentic Cantonese restaurant in SW London. My family love their crispy noodles and won’t eat anywhere else” (although a more jaded view puts its popularity down to “a lack of local competition”).

This well-known Cantonese group retains a large fan-base praising “still among the best dim sum in London”, presented in “comfortable surroundings” by “amiable (if overselling) service” (although feedback on the evening offering suggests it’s a matter of “fine dining prices for indifferent food”). As damaging, though, are the company’s multiplying legal problems, with diners complaining of “no alcohol licence!” at the Baker Street branch, which was stripped of it in 2024 and fined £360,000 for employing illegal immigrants, and in March 2025 its Royal Gourmet division, which produces wontons, steamed buns and roasted duck at a facility in Park Royal, was fined a total of £113,000 by Uxbridge magistrates after pleading guilty to 11 serious failures in food and hygiene safety – including rodent droppings. Royal Gourmet also paid £332,000 in fines for breaches of the Water Industry Act back in 2019. As one reporter comments: “Oh dear, what went wrong over the last decade! A bit shambolic… , and the quality of food has definitely worsened” in recent times.

For more than 35 years, this “reliable” family-run outfit on the Kew side of Richmond has offered “familiar British-Chinese food, very well executed and with great service”. One recent innovation is a dim sum menu. Top Tip – the set midweek lunch is a snip, starting at under £10 for two courses.

Arguably Camberwell’s premiere ‘cheap eat’ – this local fixture has become well known over many years now for its noodles, dumplings and spicy stews from Xinjiang in northwest China, all at prices to gratify the heart of anyone counting the pennies.

2025 Review: Just off the King’s Road, this Chelsea Malaysian endures on a site that’s prominent if you are local, and out-of-the-way if you are not. It owes its longevity to a menu of “really good Malay/Chinese combinations”.

Dating from an era (1982) when Asian cuisine was seldom associated with fine dining, the Peng family’s popular Pimlico veteran – benefiting from a recent refurb – continues to plough its idiosyncratic but accomplished course as “one of London’s best Chinese restaurants”. It helps that “the need to decide is taken out of your hands” with their ‘no menu policy’ – having told the team your likes and dislikes “you get what you are given! And this means that you get to try something different that’s always totally delicious” (typically over 12-18 courses, for £119.80 per person). There’s also a “remarkable wine list at very reasonable prices”.

“Reliable, high-quality Chinese fare” is the hallmark of this family-run operation now in its fifth decade, with five outlets in well-heeled parts of the capital. “Not all the food is authentic Chinese cuisine, but it is all immaculately prepared and as fresh as you like”, and comes with a “polite welcome and attentive service”. “A cut above – prices are to match”. Holland Kwok opened the original on Chelsea’s King’s Road in 1979, closely followed by branches in Esher, Mill Hill and Knightsbridge, then Wandsworth Common in 2011. He now runs the company with his son Andrew. Top Tip – “weekday lunch is exceptionally good value”.

2022 Review: Amidst the glossy boutiques of Beauchamp Place, this beautiful, luxuriously decorated Chinese opened at the end of 2019, and – aside from a favourable review by Fay Maschler – has never really had the chance to make waves. It specialises in hot pots, and the menu features much in the way of seafood and wagyu beef to accompany or incorporate. It’s listed (without a star) by Michelin, who typically list only extremely expensive, culinarily ‘safe’ Chinese restaurants: you can view that as either a positive or negative.

“A thrilling pure adventure in dining!” has won global renown for Andrew Wong’s record-breaking destination: a relatively humble Pimlico site where he spent time as a child (when it was his parents’ business Kym’s), returning after uni to transform it into the first Asian restaurant outside Asia to win two Michelin stars. It has always inspired adulatory feedback in our annual diners’ poll for the “absolutely sublime culinary journey across China” that he has created. “It is so rare that the actual chef is present every service and it shows through with exquisite dishes from quality ingredients that are consistent every time”. That said, its ratings scaled back a fraction this year. By night, it provides “a mystical 30-course journey”, but some old-timers miss the à la carte and feel that “it’s a shame the fixed menu is the only option as it is simply too much food, no matter how good”. (Although you can still eat dim sum à la carte at lunchtimes). And then there’s also the matter of cost. “The price of £220 per person for a Chinese meal is a bit out there” and while fans feel that “this is the one restaurant in town where you don’t need to query the very high cost”, there is a growing countervailing view which says “everything tastes heavenly, but the portions are small and the bill is enormous” (especially as other elements of the formula “don’t feel like a two Michelin star experience”). The winning verdict still though? – “OK prices are high, but fair play as it was my best meal of the year”.

“The other customers are as fun as the food is delicious” at this good-value Cantonese on Kensington High Street – a no-frills fixture since 1971, where “local croupiers and chauffeurs mix with regulars like Tom Parker Bowles”.

This “hidden gem of a Sichuan restaurant in the desert of Westminster” – “better than most in Chinatown” – is “well worth seeking out in an otherwise dull eating area”. There’s a “helpful menu that lists the delicious dishes by spiciness” and the “friendly service is almost immediate, so you can have a chat first over a glass and eat within an hour” – alongside MPs from up the road, who “add to the atmosphere”.

“The only challenger to A Wong as best Chinese in London” is, say many fans, this “lovely dining room” at the top of a deluxe hotel in Kensington with “fantastic views over the capital”. A “perfect venue for a slow lunch of dim sum – service is helpful and attentive but not hurried, with all the favourite dishes. The tea pot is always topped up and the view and peacefulness make it magical”. Alongside the dim sum, the “amazing roast duck is a must” – “as in any respectable Beijing restaurant, it comes in multiple servings: the first is the pancake with duck skin. The second, either lettuce wrap, duck and tofu soup, fried rice or fried noodles”. “Good craft cocktails” and “a really great-value wine list” also hit the spot. Top Menu Tip – “turnip with XO sauce is a surprising new delight”.

Fans “absolutely love the food” (dim sum in particular) at this well-reputed, modern Chinese restaurant in a Hong Kong-owned hotel overlooking trafficky Shepherd’s Bush Green. “Service is much improved but still hit-and-miss” (on occasion, it can be “very slow”). The venue takes its name from the western-influenced ‘shikumen’ architecture of pre-revolutionary Shanghai.

This “huge and buzzy Chinese restaurant” near Elephant & Castle is a South London institution, serving “superb” old-school Cantonese grub including “good dim sum at lunchtime”. “Staff are under pressure due to the sheer number of covers, but the excellence of the food makes it worth having patience”. It’s “very popular, so book a table at weekends”.

Hong Kong designer David Tang passed away in 2017, but his London restaurant legacy is this “very posh” cellar beneath the Dorchester which he opened in 2005 inspired by 1930s Shanghai. During his lifetime it always struggled to live up to the hype and high prices, but acclaim for it has grown in recent years, with very high ratings achieved across the board this year. More cost conscious types can eat from a dim sum menu at either lunch or dinner. Money to burn? There is a good selection of Chinese classics on the menu, such as Peking Duck (£128 or £258 with 30g of Kristal caviar); Japanese size 18 abalone at £388 or a luxurious seafood hot pot for two (£258). Top Tip – wonderful jewel box of a cocktail bar.