Bayswater, Chinese Restaurant Guide

“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.

“The lobster noodles are as legendary as ever” – “best in the world!” – chorus a legion of fans for this 45-year-old Queensway institution that’s “tops for Chinese seafood in London”. It’s a “buzzy family restaurant” too, with “really lovely friendly staff”, even if it’s “a bit too brightly lit”.

This classic Cantonese in Queensway specialises in “delicious dim sum” and roast meats; and though “there are better venues in the area” you may still face a long queue at busy times. It also has a Chinatown sibling at 45 Wardour Street, London W1D 6PZ.

“Authentic and sensibly priced dim sum, a cut or two above the quality of many traditional Soho joints” (and with “some stand out dishes”) has carved a good reputation for this Cantonese basement, below the shiny new towers of Paddington Basin. (Its ratings, though, are not as high as once they were; and one or two reporters feel “it still hasn’t fully recovered its shine post pandemic”).