Hing Loon (CLOSED)

It’s unlikely to win any design awards, but this cosy restaurant with blue velour chairs and not-quite-matching carpet is one of the friendliest pit stops in Chinatown. We can even forgive the soft rock radio soundtrack when the congee’s as good as this: just £4.10 will get you a nutritious, belly-filling (melamine) bowl of fragrant jasmine rice porridge with ginger, juicy slices of pork, flecks of salted egg and finely sliced spring onions. A few pence more allows mandarin and fishermen’s versions. Look to the rice dishes section of the sizeable menu for other one-plate bargains, such as rice topped with braised eel and crispy pork, squid, or barbecued pork and scrambled egg.

The noodle dishes tend to be good too.