Elstree, Chinese Restaurant Guide

This well-known family-owned quartet of “upmarket Chinese” operations – in Knightsbridge, Mill Hill, Wandsworth Common and Esher – are “longstanding favourites” for many reporters. “The menus may not excite any true aficionados of Asian cuisine, but its consistency excites us!” And even if it’s “never cheap, it’s always worth the price”.

“The Oriental food hall of your dreams” – this gastro-warehouse in Colindale offers a vast choice. “The quality ranges extremely widely between the various stalls”, but choose carefully and you’ll be well fed.

“Sunday dim sum lunch is always full of happy families” at this popular Cantonese group with 1980s-nightclub decor – an occasion for which they “cannot be beaten” for many diners: so “arrive around 10:45 to join queue for 11am opening”. With the closure of its Bayswater branch a few years ago, Baker Street and Canary Wharf are its preeminent spots (and SW6 can be “disappointing” by comparison). All feedback is about the lunchtime service – “the evening offering is a bit ordinary”.

One of North London’s more consistent and interesting culinary success stories: Hendon’s kosher Chinese restaurant “continues to operate at a very high standard”, with “tasty and authentic cooking” and “a great ambience”. It takes its name from a Chinese city with an ancient Jewish community.