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Photograph: Haydon Perrior
Photograph: Haydon Perrior

The best restaurants in London’s Chinatown

Eat at the finest Chinese restaurants Chinatown has to offer, plus incredible Thai, Taiwanese and Malaysian spots too

Angela Hui
Written by
Angela Hui
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Chinatown is one of London's most truly delicious neighbourhoods. London's Chinatown was first found in Limehouse in the East End, but relocated just south of Soho in the 1970s, with some of the first to open here Poon's Restaurant on Lisle Street, which sadly closed in 2003, Kowloon Restaurant and Loon Fung supermarket, which you can still find on Gerrard Street. Chinatown is always busy, and with good reason; there are over 80 restaurants packed into these central London streets. Here you can savour Sichuanese cuisine and dim sum at some of the capital's best Chinese restaurants, but you can also find amazing Thai, Taiwanese and Malaysian restaurants in this historic location. Read on for Time Out's list of the best places to eat in Chinatown. 

RECOMMENDED: Find more Chinese restaurants in London.

Where to eat in Chinatown

  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Chinatown
  • price 1 of 4

The first thing you’ll notice at this Chinatown institution is a row of crispy, tender Cantonese roast meats hanging in the window wafting its deliciousness beckoning you to enter. Evidently, that should be your go-to order. Famed for those three pillars of Cantonese cuisine: roast duck, char siu pork and crispy pork. Tuck into pure meaty succulence and flavourful intensity, and served in generous portions. 

  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Chinatown
  • price 1 of 4

Brave the queues at this small but mighty hole-in-the-wall Chinatown spot, which serves up jianbing pancakes and superlative street food. Whipped up right in front of you, these lacey crepes are stuffed with spring onions, chilli oil, pickles, hoisin sauce and pork belly if you want to make it meaty. Worth the wait. 

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Dumplings’ Legend
  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Chinatown

Never tried xiao long bao? Sometimes called ‘soup dumplings’, these Shanghai beauties are steamed parcels containing both filling and broth ­­– so be sure to pop them in your mouth in one go. The classic pork version is our favourite, while dim sum fans will adore the fried turnip cake and quivering cheung fun.

  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Chinatown

Wong Kei is known for two things: brusque service and portions the size of your head. The menu is comically large at this no-frills longstanding Cantonese restaurant. Spanning from stir-fries to pork and seafood. The hero dishes worth your time is the thick and flavoursome beef brisket soup rice vermicelli noodles and the plump and juicy wonton egg noodles. Oh, and did we mention there’s free tea?

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  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Chinatown

Big menus are commonplace in Chinatown, but such a vast repertoire seems impossible from a galley the size of an origami boat. Still, TPT manages to deliver its pan-Chinese bonanza with commendable aplomb. Best bets are Cantonese staples such as succulent roast duck on rice, although we crave the Hong Kong-style ‘Tai pai tong hawker dishes’ too.

C&R Café
  • Restaurants
  • Malaysian
  • Chinatown
  • price 1 of 4
C&R slipped quietly into a Chinatown alley in 1998, bringing with it a passion for Malaysian laksa: giant bowls of spicy coconutty broth packed with juicy prawns,thin rice vermicelli, puffy fish balls, the works. It also serves up umami-rich plates of char kway teow noodles, piled-high rice-based nasi goreng, buttery roti canai bread and the celebrated beef rendang. C&R's vibe is functional but contemporary, while staff are friendly and highly efficient.
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  • Restaurants
  • Thai
  • Chinatown
  • price 2 of 4

There is some seriously sophisticated cooking going on at what at first glance seems to be a simple Rupert Street party restaurant. The bright and boozy Speedboat Bar is inspired by canteen food in Bangkok’s own Chinatown and features cult dishes such as chicken skins with zaep seasoning and chicken matches with green mango kerabu. If you like things spicy, go forth and tease your tastebuds here. 

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Leonie Cooper
Food and Drink Editor, Time Out London
  • Restaurants
  • Malaysian
  • Chinatown

With its hawker street food and low prices, this bustling Malaysian café reminds us of hot and humid days spent in Penang. Choose the light ground floor rather than the dim basement for ambience, and expect a greatest-hits menu of satays, roti canai, noodles and composite plates such as nasi lemak. Drink bubble tea or teh tarik (‘pulled tea’).  

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BaoziInn Romilly Street
  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Soho
  • price 1 of 4

It’s all about the buns at this basement Chinese street-food restaurant. The bao as they should be: soft and fluffy on the outside; deliciously warm, sweet and sticky on the inside. Take a date for pre-theatre beers and bao, and you’ll do very well here.

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • British
  • Chinatown
  • price 4 of 4
  • Recommended

A tiny 12-seater tucked under The Blue Posts pub on the outskirts of Chinatown, this is where you'll find head chef James Goodyear celebrating the best of British produce, then dressing it up using sleek Scandinavian and Japanese techniques, before presenting everything like a display garden at the Chelsea Flower Show. It's not cheap – at £125 a head – but this tasting menu, and the glam basement bunker where you eat it, is a true treat of a night out. 

 

https://media.timeout.com/images/105972774/image.jpg
Leonie Cooper
Food and Drink Editor, Time Out London
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Shu Xiangge
  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Chinatown
  • price 2 of 4

Smack-bang on Gerrard Street, this Sichuan spot has space for a bubbling hotpot built into every table. If you’re a fan of face-numbingly spicy food and cooking your own meat, head here to feast on adventurous ingredients like brains and beef aorta. Less adventurous delights like fish balls are available as well.

  • Restaurants
  • Chinatown

Dumplings are the stars of the show at this unpretentious joint on the corner of Gerrard Street. Prawn and chive dumplings are plump and sweet, while their rich crabmeat cousins come with a scallop balanced on top. If you like your dim sum with a side of nostalgia, adorably retro Gerrard’s is for you.

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  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Chinatown

Leong’s Legend is a tasty melting pot. Yes, it still has a Taiwanese edge, but there’s also a sushi bar, a hotpot table and a mini-menu devoted to ‘poeken’ – think Japanese donburi meets on-trend poké. However, stick to the regional Chinese ‘starred’ dishes and you won’t go far wrong.

  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Chinatown

North London’s Old Tree Bakery comes to Chinatown in the shape of this makeshift Taiwanese eatery. Ok, it’s not exactly luxurious, but there’s plenty of authentic stuff on offer. The homemade Taiwanese sausages, salt-and-pepper tofu, oyster omelette and noodles in richly spiced broth are all worth their modest price tags. 

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  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Chinatown
It may look like a sleek, chic Hakkasan-style oasis in the centre of gaudy Chinatown, but Plum Valley’s prices are more budget than blowout. Moody lighting and pleather upholstery set the scene for a pleasing run though the Cantonese repertoire with a few modish touches, decent dim sum and the odd Thai or Malaysian dish.
Imperial China
  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Chinatown

A small wooden bridge spanning an ornamental fish pond, warm wood panelling, kind lighting and a second floor offering a view of the dining room below set this Cantonese standby apart from its Chinatown rivals. The food is reliable, authentic and of decent quality – even if portions can seem rather miserly.

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