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Where to eat in Chinatown

The variety of options available can be overwhelming, so here are our recommendations

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The restaurants of Chinatown can seem daunting to the uninitiated – spoilt for choice, how on earth do you pick one? Here are some of the places our Food & Drink writers recommend

  • Imperial China

      White Bear Yard, 25A Lisle St, WC2H 7BA (7734 3388)

    Very characterful, with a real feeling of Hong Kong, Imperial China is reached down a Lisle Street alley that opens into a little courtyard complete with wooden footbridge and bijou fish pond. The à la carte menu of Cantonese dishes is most notable for its seafood choice. The lunchtime dim sum selection attracts Chinese families at the weekends, when things tend to get hectic.

  • Little Lamb

      72 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6NA (7287 8078).

    Young groups of Chinese stream into Little Lamb to cook choice titbits in bowls of bubbling stock: Mongolian hotpot is a communal affair resulting in good, messy fun. The £20 set meal is a good deal.

  • Café de Hong Kong

    Cafe de Hong Kong

      47-49 Charing Cross Rd, WC2H 0AN (7534 9898)

    Busy diner with blond wood booth-style seating and an expansive view of Newport Street from the mezzanine. Noodles are the main event – there are nearly 50 versions. Snacks range from familiar French fries to ducks’ tongues in sesame and chilli sauce.

  • Four Seasons

      12 Gerrard St, W1D 5PR (7494 0870)

    This is the Chinatown spin-off of the Bayswater favourite, serving its signature juicy roast duck as well as commendable versions of other Cantonese-style roast meats. Service can be brusque and there are queues every night: you’ll be expected to pay the bill as soon as you’ve finished.

  • HK Diner

      22 Wardour St, W1D 6QQ (7434 9544)

    With a smarter decor than most Chinatown gaffs, this is the favourite of many expats, who go for comforting plates of roast duck or pork on rice. The list of clay-pot dishes is intriguing: lamb breast (on the bone) with preserved bean curd is a hearty, homely and richly flavoured dish.

  • New Fook Lam Moon

      10 Gerrard St, W1D 5PW (7734 7615)

    Along with Cantonese standards, the menu at this Gerrard Street restaurant features some enticing Malaysian dishes including a marvellous steamed turbot.

  • New Mayflower

      68-70 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6LY (7734 9207)

    A Chinatown stalwart, the New Mayflower is huge but the kitchen is capable of producing Cantonese cuisine to a high standard, if you know what to order. Inattentive service is sometimes a problem.

  • Joy King Lau

      3 Leicester St, WC2H 7BL (7437 1132/ www.joykinglau.com)

    An old-school Chinatown restaurant that attracts a divergent bunch of dim sum devotees young and old, tourists and Londoners, Chinese and others. Those in the know arrive early for the lunchtime snacks, sampling reliably rendered classics such as yam croquette, prawn cheung fun or chiu chow fun gwor.

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Restaurants in Chinatown

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