Radlett, Chinese, Dim Sum - Restaurant Guide

“Reliable dim sum” ensures that the conventional Cantonese restaurant on the ground floor of Colindale’s Bang Bang Oriental Food Hall is “always busy” – offering a “great” alternative to the hit-and-miss kiosks upstairs. It has a twin in Chinatown (see also).

“You’re never short of choices” at this cavernous Oriental food court in Colindale, whose 25 stalls offer “a great variety of Asian cuisine” from Mumbai to Tokyo, while there’s the more conventional Green Dragon Chinese restaurant downstairs. But it pays to be careful in your choices: “certain stalls are definitely better than others” (and “some are really not worth the money”).

Andrew Hung quit a career in architectural engineering for this “polished” Colindale passion project: a glossily spec’d out unit at the foot of an apartment block serving high-quality cuisine that fans say is “faultless: perfect for lunch or supper” (with dim sum to the fore for the former). The worst critique this year? “Good, but didn’t quite live up to Giles Coren’s review”.

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.

Celebrating their half century this year, three generations of the Lou family have been an “always reliable” source of “consistently tasty and well prepared Chinese food” for local Actonians since the 1970s. Lawrence, who runs it these days, pretty well grew up in the restaurant and makes sure that “service is always friendly”.

“The dim sum never disappoints”, with “V.G. examples of all the classics” at this Cantonese outfit in Paddington Basin, set in a large and modern basement that looks “stylish” to most diners, if “cold and boring” to a few critics. “Great for lunch with family and friends”, it also “copes well for a party of 20 in a private room, with efficient service and an excellent set menu”.

“Excellent Cantonese roast duck and dim sum” have earned a solid following over 20 years for this “authentically rushed and hectic” Queensway spot (and its Chinatown sibling), despite “typical Chinese-restaurant ambience and service – crammed… loud… perfunctory”.

“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”.

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.

“Superior” modern Chinese dishes, including “some unusual dim sum”, are found on the “extensive menu” at this Marylebone outpost of a Shanghai-based group, covering both Cantonese and less familiar Shanghainese cuisine. The modern office-block interior may not be to everybody’s taste, but it does at least reflect the contemporary culinary style.

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 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”.

“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”.

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.

“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!”

“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”.

“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”).

“The Duck de Chine is transcendental… but so is the bill” at this lavish Chinese venue in the heart of Mayfair, where live music and regular entertainment are central to a sumptuous experience aiming – not unsuccessfully – to channel the ‘decadence of 1930s Shanghai’. In past surveys, the gap between the level of value and expense has soured reports, but all feedback was much more positive this year. Top Tip – if you want to dip your toe in the water, the £29 set weekday lunch is one way to start. BREAKING NEWS: Ironically, just as our ratings were improving, the site entered administration in July 2025, so at the time of writing its future is uncertain.

In December 2023, Tom Cruise apparently romanced Russian MP’s daughter Elsina Khayrova at this Mayfair eurotrash magnet, owned by ‘Blini Baron’, Arkady Novokov. There are two sections – the more popular pan-Asian haunt serving a huge variety of bites (sushi, sashimi, robata, dim sum, steaks, salads and wok dishes); and the more gracious and ornate Italian section majoring in wood-grilled steak and fish. Perhaps our readers are just not in the oligarch mindset – the odd one says it’s exceptional all-round but largely they rate the whole experience as “underwhelming for the price”… or just plain “bad”.

“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”.