Wenjun Xiang launched her career while still at school. Less 10 years later, still only 26, she runs Xi Home Dumplings Bay, whose three London venues showcase the cuisine of her home city – Dalian, a busy port in northeast China. Harden’s met her at the newest branch, which opened a year ago in Blossom Street, […]
The Duck and Rice, the Soho pub that combines Cantonese food with British boozer, has opened a first spin-off – a full decade after its launch – in the redeveloped Battersea power station. The new branch is twice the size of the original, seating 185, and instead of looking like a spruced-up old pub is […]
A smart new northern Chinese restaurant called Mulan Noodle with an open kitchen producing hand-pulled noodles has opened on Acre Lane, between Clapham and Brixton in South London. Mulan also offers live traditional Chinese music on Friday and Saturday nights, featuring instruments including a 21-string zither called the guzheng and the pipa, a four-stringed lute. […]
A restaurant dating back to 1757 will launch its first outpost in London’s Chinatown next week – introducing a new variety of noodles to the capital. Songhelou in Wardour Street is descended from a restaurant that opened during the Qing dynasty in Suzhou, a city about 50 miles west of Shanghai. The long-lived Qianlong Emperor is […]
A prominent London Chinese restaurant faces closure following repeated raids by immigration enforcement officers. The website Hot Dinners reports that Westminster Council has applied to revoke the licence of the Royal China on Baker Street, on grounds that it “appears to be operating with a complete disregard for the law and the licensing objectives“. A […]
Dubai-based Chinese restaurant Shanghai Me is to take over the Galvin brothers’ former Windows perch on the 28th storey of the Park Lane Hilton, as London’s oldest skyscraper hotel reshuffles its dining offer. In the second part of the reshuffle, Amsterdam steakhouse group Mr Porter is moving in to the lower ground floor site occupied […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 26th May 2024 The Guardian Brett, Glasgow Grace Dent found “comfort food with the chef’s foot fully on the gas” at this modest-seeming wine bar – the younger sibling of feted Cal Bruich nearby – which “holds a fig leaf […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 28th April 2024 The Financial Times Alberta’s at The Windmill, Brighton Tim Hayward was “blown away” by Scottish chef Alistair Munro’s cooking at a “rackety, seedy Regency locals’ boozer” – a meal which prompted Tim to define an emergent new […]
A glossy Chinese restaurant which justifies dressing up for dinner opens in Glasgow city centre next week. Paul Sloan of the Hunky Dory Group hopes Zhima will “bring to Glasgow what Hakkasan does to London and Tattu does to Edinburgh – an elegant, adventurous dining destination“. The million-pound pound project has been in development for four […]
Our weekly round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about up to 25 February 2024 ***** The Evening Standard Tashas, Battersea Jimi Famurewa confessed that it took a trip to Sydney in January to convince him of the attractions of the Antipodean brunch. “And now I have fallen pretty hard for Tashas — […]
