South Hampstead, Chinese Restaurant Guide

An “old favourite” that’s impressively popular for somewhere tucked-away in a distant Swiss Cottage shopping parade, and that has “stayed the same for decades”, serving an “original mix of dishes from China, Malaysia and Singapore” in a “civilised atmosphere”. The Times critic Giles Coren’s favourite restaurant (he claims to have eaten at least 1,000 bowls of its signature laksa), fans in our annual diners’ poll say it serves “better chicken rice than in Singapore”.

A Swiss Cottage institution for more than half a century, this local Chinese venue (est. 1972) is in the classic (for London) Cantonese mould and still dependably well-rated on the food front.