London’s best dim sum restaurants

Often overlooked in favour of their wildly popular neighbour Dim Sum Duck, Baba Tang is a casual hidden gem fifteen minutes’ walk from King’s Cross station. Serving dim sum all day (made in-house), each dish is served piping hot, emerging clouded in steam from their kitchen. A must order is cheung fun rice rolls with peanut and XO sauce – the best I’ve had in London – as well as tantalisingly salty fried turnip cake and beef ho fun noodles, a Cantonese classic. Don’t forget to ask to try their homemade chilli oil too.

Time Out tip While you’re here for dim sum, I’d also recommend ordering the salted egg yolk chicken wings – a rarity on London menus – or their deep fried salt and pepper tofu for a crunchy, satisfying bite.

If you want to impress your Chinese partner’s parents and/or you have unlimited access to a company card, Yauatcha is a high end option for a show-stopping dim sum feast surrounded by modern, sleek interiors. From scallop shumai to black truffle and lobster dumplings, my personal favourites are the blue swimmer crab xiao long bao, the sticky rice in lotus leaf, spicy pork Szechuan wontons and wagyu beef puffs. It’s also worth trying their sharing dishes, where highlights include the crispy soft shell crab garnished with addictive almond flakes seasoned with chilli, and their lightly curryed Singaporean noodles.

Time Out tip For a tea accompaniment, try their milky oolong which surprisingly doesn’t have any dairy at all, despite its dairy-adjacent taste. Perfect for the lactose intolerant, or vegan dim sum enthusiasts.

This tiny household name, where Keira Knightley is apparently a regular, has fewer than 20 seats in one sitting. If you’ve ever walked around the King’s Cross backstreets, you will likely have seen long queues snaking down the road. Yes, overhyped places can also have lines, but this one is full of HongKongers who are famously efficiency obsessed and will only queue for what’s unequivocally worth it. Serving dim sum all day, come for Dim Sum Duck’s savoury turnip cake (lo bak gou), famously plump shrimp dumplings (har gau) and generously soup-laden xiao long baos, as well as their reliable cheung fun rice rolls (I’d recommend the roast pork option).

Time Out tip For shortest queue times, their manager has shared that they’re least busy on Sunday evenings, so go for a late dim sum visit to round off the weekend.

Instead of Chinatown’s Golden Dragon, it’s worth paying a visit instead to their northwest London branch. It offers a far more authentic dim sum experience in an area known as ‘the real Chinatown’ to the local Asian diaspora, and fast becoming a mini Hong Kong due to the rapid pace of Cantonese residents emigrating here. An expansive ground floor establishment in the same building as the giant east and south east Asian food hall Bang Bang Oriental, here is where you would imagine a Chinese banquet wedding to take place, with a grandiose dragon on the wall, glittery gold and red seats and a lazy susan as the centrepiece of each large round table. Particular dim sum highlights include their crispy prawn cheung fun rolls and salt and pepper tofu.

Time Out tip They don’t take bookings for dim sum and will only seat you when your whole party has arrived. So if you find yourself waiting, it’s worth browsing the massive Asian supermarket Loon Fung next door, where I go to buy my industrial size packs of rice.

Approaching the iconic cobalt blue sign, you can tell Saikei is the real deal; an old school Chinese establishment with traditional Guardian Lion sculptures designed to protect hungry diners from harmful spirits. Housing over 400 seats, they serve dim sum until 4.30pm everyday from an extensive menu. It’s worth trying the dishes that don’t make it to smaller dim sum eateries in London, such as their Thai style chicken claws (served cold), taro croquettes, char siu pork puff pastries and traditional Hong Kong style custard tarts with an extra flaky crust.

Time Out tip The restaurant has two bookable karaoke rooms. Why not digest your dim sum feast with a high energy singing workout?

Mama Mei opened in 2022, bringing a much appreciated and affordable family-run spot to the steadily gentrifying area of Upper Holloway. Often filled with local students from UCL and Central St Martins, this small eatery is run by the family’s two daughters, who act as front of house waitresses while their mother holds down the fort in the kitchen and makes all the dim sum fresh on site. The sisters’ own recommendation is their plump har gau dumplings, although the headliner has to be the fluffy salted egg custard lava buns, steamed in black dough for extra drama.

Time Out tip Alongside dim sum, their specialty is their Sichuanese dan dan noodles, which leave a pleasantly spicy numbing sensation, or their mapo tofu noodles. Make sure to try at least one before you leave.

As the only Chinatown institution included on this list, The Golden Phoenix stands out as a much loved, family-run spot. With all their dim sum made daily in-house, the buzzing restaurant is set over two floors, with classic red tablecloths and a large golden dragon watching auspiciously over the surroundings. You can order all the dim sum classics, including chicken feet in black bean sauce, mochi with sesame paste, salted egg custard lava buns and umami turnip cakes in XO sauce. Beyond the dim sum menu, I’d also recommend going for one of their signature dishes: their roast duck, which boasts an extra crispy oily skin.

Time Out tip Sit on the second floor if you want a slightly quieter ambience, and near the staircase for maximum bird's eye view capabilities for entertaining people-watching.

As London restaurants continue to grapple with skyrocketing costs, this no-frills, just-vibes eatery still manages to offer dim sum at an accessible price point, without compromising on quality. It’s charmingly casual, a little chaotic and family run, with their specialty being their huge, freshly made fried dumplings: a must-order and always bursting with filling. From their dim sum menu, I would recommend their comfortingly soft pork and vegetable buns, as well as staples such as steamed har gau and shumai. It’s also BYOB if you want to swap the usual tea accompaniment with an alcoholic drink of your choice. 

Time Out tip Make sure to call and book a table in advance, as they’re a small 20-seat restaurant and extremely popular with locals. Remember, it also shuts for most of the summer (mid July to August) to give their team a much needed rest!

For a more glamorous dim sum experience (at a correspondingly high end price point), a meal at Park Chinois is always a spectacle. Transporting you to a different era via its 1930s Shanghai chinoiserie interiors, you’ll dine by red velvet curtains and in luxurious opulence. The space also hosts live jazz and soul bands upstairs, and a cabaret show and DJs downstairs. The restaurant is led by Malaysian head chef Lee Chee Liang, known for his wide ranging experience across east meets west culinary styles. Trust his recommendation by getting the chef’s dim sum selection which includes har gau, lobster shumai, Atlantic sea scallop, mui choi (preserved mustard cabbage) and black truffle dumplings. 

Time Out tip If you’re looking to treat yourself, their weekday lunch is relatively affordable compared to the rest of the menu. At £29, it includes both dim sum and sharing dishes, with vegan and vegetarian options available.

Rather confusingly in Mandarin, Yi-Ban’s name can either translate to ‘first class’ or ‘mediocre’, depending on the linguistic tone. Thankfully, it’s the former that’s applicable to this spacious dim sum oasis where you’ll find yourself reassuringly surrounded by other Asian diners, widely considered as the true marker of culinary legitimacy. Yi-ban’s location feels like a spaceship parked in the barren concrete desert of the Docklands, but this means that every visit is deeply intentional, so spend a whole afternoon snacking and sipping on tea while soaking up the widescreen views of the Thames river through scenic glass windows. Highlights include  fried glutinous rice croquettes with mince meat filling (ham sui gok), their fluffy chasiu pork buns and silky prawn cheung fun rolls.

Time Out tip There’s a car park on site for those who want to drive, and remember they don’t take bookings for less than groups of 10.