Lower Wolvercote, Chinese Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: “So good – writing this now makes me crave their tofu noodles!” – this Oxford institution takes a culinary tour tracing the voyages of China’s legendary fifteenth-century admiral Zheng, with a handful of dishes from each of Sichuan, Canton, Malaysia and Singapore. There’s now a smarter branch in Chelsea.

2024 Review: “Good Sichuanese cooking and a good variety of dishes” (albeit “not as extensive as the ‘My Sichuan’ restaurant it replaced”) make this venture “in the lovely Gloucester Green Old School building” more than “enough to tickle the tastebuds at very affordable prices”. The Westfield Stratford sibling has now been joined by a second Big Smoke offshoot, in Holborn.

Don’t expect to linger after you’ve queued for a perch at this archetypal studenty canteen in the heart of the ‘Dreaming Spires’. For an excellent refuel that won’t break the bank, it’s just the job offering piping hot bowls of lick-the-plate-clean ramen and spicy curries, all at student-loan-friendly prices.