Chigwell, Chinese, Dim Sum Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: In a good week, these East London dumpling haunts dispense upwards of 14,000 Asian pastry parcels to a hipster crowd. The original was in Clapton, with a second more grown-up branch near Victoria Park opening in late 2019.

2022 Review: In a good week, these East London dumpling haunts dispense upwards of 14,000 Asian pastry parcels to a hipster crowd. The original was in Clapton, with a second more grown-up branch near Victoria Park opening in late 2019.

2022 Review: No feedback this year on this distant Chinese restaurant, near Royal Albert Dock DLR. If you are looking to eat in these parts though – while watching the take-offs and landings at nearby London City Airport – it is worth knowing about.

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.

“The food remains exceptional” – “cheung fun and venison puffs are still raging crowd-pleasers” – at this modern Cantonese-inspired pair: the “fabulously blingy” Soho original and its follow-up in the City’s Broadgate development (there are also international branches in India and Saudi Arabia). One or two uneven reports this year raise concerns, including about “ragged service” – though, to be fair, the latter has never been great. Founded in 2004 by Alan Yau following his success with Hakkasan, the brand now sits in the hospitality portfolio of Isle of Man-based online gambling billionaire Mark Sheinberg. Top Tip – “the Infinite Yum Cha brunch on Sundays is extremely good value – and delicious”.

“Old-school cooking, just like you’d find in Hong Kong”, is on the menu at this tiny outfit that has become a place of foodie pilgrimage: “of all the many Chinese restaurants in London serving dim sum and other Cantonese staples, this is a long-tail success”… but only “if you can bear the hour-long queue on grimy King’s Cross Road”; the “industrial-speed” service (“a bit off-hand, but well-meaning”); and “very cramped tables”. Top Tip: “go between 2.30 & 4.00pm after the lunchtime rush is over and they’re winding down before starting up again at 6pm”; “best tasty prawns I’ve had in years”.

“Fantastic dim sum”, “excellent Peking duck” and “a surprisingly good (and good-value) set lunch menu” belie the “slightly sterile”, “hotel-restaurant” setting in the Hyatt Regency at Blackfriars (fka the Crowne Plaza). The unusual name commemorates the 2009 debut of China’s national cricket team.

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”.

“Soup dumpling heaven!” – say fans, who experience “the joy of dim sum in all its brilliance” at these London outlets of a Taiwan-based international chain that arrived here to great fanfare in 2018 – branch number four opened in Canary Wharf last year. Perhaps inevitably, well-travelled sceptics say they’re relatively “expensive for what they are” (“foodwise they’re the same as Asia”, but “I was shocked by the pricing of here vs Singapore”).

“Soup dumpling heaven!” – say fans, who experience “the joy of dim sum in all its brilliance” at these London outlets of a Taiwan-based international chain that arrived here to great fanfare in 2018 – branch number four opened in Canary Wharf last year. Perhaps inevitably, well-travelled sceptics say they’re relatively “expensive for what they are” (“foodwise they’re the same as Asia”, but “I was shocked by the pricing of here vs Singapore”).

“Brilliant, lip-numbing” northern Chinese cooking has put this Soho fixture from Wei Shao firmly on the map, and it serves a flexible menu of skewers, noodles and rice, wok dishes and other dim sum options. Some feel its Borough Market offshoot is “weak” by comparison (“it’s as if the Soho one benefits from the proximity of Chinatown but they don’t expect anyone with any discernment in SE1!”).

2024 Review: “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”.

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”.

This two-storey Cantonese venue on the main drag of Chinatown (with a branch in Colindale) is many people’s pick for “really great dim sum” (“one of the best I’ve tasted outside Hong Kong”). The main evening menu also features “consistently above-average-quality food”. Top Tip – “go early or late to beat the crowds”.

“Love the fresh-made dumplings” at this modern classic in Chinatown, where you can watch chefs making the house special xiao long bao (Shanghai-style soup dumplings with 18 pleats). The menu extends to 400 dishes of “great food” – but it’s “not a very comfortable restaurant”, and “the fact that the service is quite off-hand is gently amusing”. After 15 years, brothers Geoff & Lucas Leong opened a follow-up last year, Love Dumplings Legend in Chancery Lane.

“Easy going, not too fussy, but authentic” – this family-run veteran of four decades “in the heart of Chinatown” is many people’s “favourite” Cantonese spot for “dim sum to write home about”. It’s also “not as crowded as some of the other restaurants nearby”.

“The food remains exceptional” – “cheung fun and venison puffs are still raging crowd-pleasers” – at this modern Cantonese-inspired pair: the “fabulously blingy” Soho original and its follow-up in the City’s Broadgate development (there are also international branches in India and Saudi Arabia). One or two uneven reports this year raise concerns, including about “ragged service” – though, to be fair, the latter has never been great. Founded in 2004 by Alan Yau following his success with Hakkasan, the brand now sits in the hospitality portfolio of Isle of Man-based online gambling billionaire Mark Sheinberg. Top Tip – “the Infinite Yum Cha brunch on Sundays is extremely good value – and delicious”.

“Glamorous” and “refined Chinese food in an elegant” – if “very dark” – setting still pleases many admirers at this now-global brand, whose seminal basement original near Tottenham Court Road tube closed down after 24 years in February 2025. The “excellent” roast duck with caviar and other signature dishes can still be enjoyed at its svelte Mayfair offshoot, as well as 10 international locations from Miami to Mumbai. Nay-sayers view it as an experience for “the Instagram crowd, who eat little and take photos all the time” – but most diners still find it “amazing overall”. Top Tip – “they did not seem to like us asking for the Taste of Hakkasan set menu, which is incredible value!”

“Slightly over-the-top decor” proclaims the Chinese credentials of this cavernous, popular old-timer, near Baker Street, with an old-school menu that encompasses most of the Cantonese classics, including dim sum. “Good fun”, “reliable and busy” – the food is sometimes “nothing special”, but overall it’s “great for larger parties”, and is “still quite full of Chinese families at Sunday lunchtimes”.