Caterham, Chinese Restaurant Guide

“Cannot be beaten!” – so says the very dedicated local fan club of Victor Choi’s long-established Cantonese fixture on the high street, known locally as a top option for a celebration.

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.

“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”.

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.

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”.

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.

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”.

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”.

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”.

A “genuine Chinese” located within the gargantuan Oriental shopping centre Wing Yip. The formula at the busy two-floor venue is “dim sum during the day”, but there’s also a “Peking duck and BBQ pork bar as well as an extensive à la carte menu”; if you need some guidance navigating the dishes, the staff are “very helpful with the menu”.

“The definition of cheap and cheerful Asian food” – these hawker-inspired, ‘Siu Mei’ (meat dumpling) pitstops “show that you don’t have to traipse into Soho for a quick and tasty meal of great Cantonese roast meats”. Founded as a takeaway kiosk in Liverpool Street in 2019 by Hong Kongers, Chong Yew (Uncle Lim), Pui Sing Tsang (Uncle Sidney), and Mo Kwok (Uncle Mo), they now have six locations of which Brent Cross (open in March 2025) is the latest in the mall’s new District food hall. “No frills, but tasty, fast and cheap”, the specialities are Cantonese Roast Duck, Crispy Pork Belly (Siu Yuk), and Char Siu Pork. Top Menu Tip – Auntie Jun’s Char Siu Sou.

2024 Review: This “surprisingly good Chinese” in Putney specialises in the cuisines of Shanghai and Sichuan, and the “flavours and produce” are by all accounts “excellent” (even better if you “ask for the Chinese menu”). Top Menu Tip – “particularly fine duck”.

“Stunningly good Sichuan food” is tipped by the small fan club of this simple two-floor two-year-old near Vauxhall Park. “I prefer it to nearby Canton Arms and Brunswick House… and they set a high bar!”