Westminster, Chinese Restaurant Guide

This “hidden gem of a Sichuan restaurant in the desert of Westminster” – “better than most in Chinatown” – is “well worth seeking out in an otherwise dull eating area”. There’s a “helpful menu that lists the delicious dishes by spiciness” and the “friendly service is almost immediate, so you can have a chat first over a glass and eat within an hour” – alongside MPs from up the road, who “add to the atmosphere”.

“A thrilling pure adventure in dining!” has won global renown for Andrew Wong’s record-breaking destination: a relatively humble Pimlico site where he spent time as a child (when it was his parents’ business Kym’s), returning after uni to transform it into the first Asian restaurant outside Asia to win two Michelin stars. It has always inspired adulatory feedback in our annual diners’ poll for the “absolutely sublime culinary journey across China” that he has created. “It is so rare that the actual chef is present every service and it shows through with exquisite dishes from quality ingredients that are consistent every time”. That said, its ratings scaled back a fraction this year. By night, it provides “a mystical 30-course journey”, but some old-timers miss the à la carte and feel that “it’s a shame the fixed menu is the only option as it is simply too much food, no matter how good”. (Although you can still eat dim sum à la carte at lunchtimes). And then there’s also the matter of cost. “The price of £220 per person for a Chinese meal is a bit out there” and while fans feel that “this is the one restaurant in town where you don’t need to query the very high cost”, there is a growing countervailing view which says “everything tastes heavenly, but the portions are small and the bill is enormous” (especially as other elements of the formula “don’t feel like a two Michelin star experience”). The winning verdict still though? – “OK prices are high, but fair play as it was my best meal of the year”.

An august, high-ceilinged space in the heart of the West End – originally built as a banking hall and with the acres of marble to match – nowadays hosts this luxurious Chinese venture: the first European outpost of a 20-strong Singapore-based group, with numerous outposts in China itself. For Chinese fine dining and damn the expense, this is a consistently well-rated experience, even if it is often recommended by business-accounters, or through the gritted teeth of those who say it’s “exceptional but overpriced”. Peking Duck is a classic choice, naturally, and must be ordered in advance at £148 (£248 if you add caviar).

“Great dim sum” backed up by more substantial Cantonese and Sichuan dishes have established this unshowy venue as one of the area‘s best bets. It’s easy to find: it’s right by the archway at the entrance to Chinatown!

“Still a go-to if it’s roast duck you’re after” – see them hanging in the window of this 35-year-old Bayswater Cantonese and its Chinatown offshoots, which offer “consistently excellent” roast meats (pork as well as duck) in “a pretty basic environment that’s noisy and crowded”, along with “charmless service” – “bad enough to make you think twice about even going!”. A more positive way of looking at it is that “they don’t waste money on decor and service: it’s a reliable no-frills comfort-food experience”. Further outlets include Chop Chop at the Hippodrome and Colindale Bang Bang Oriental food hall (see also), plus three Little Four Seasons.

2024 Review: “Fresh and very tasty dim sum” ensures that this 30-year-old Cantonese over three storeys on the edge of Chinatown “soon fills up with regulars”. “It may be a blessing that the ambience is not exactly chic – it keeps the tourists away”.

2023 Review: “Top egg yolk buns” are a big draw at China-born architect Z He and chef Alex Peffly’s well-known Chinatown pit stop, which provides an “excellent bustling ambience and wonderful heart-filling food”.

This two-storey Cantonese venue on the main drag of Chinatown (with a branch in Colindale) is many people’s pick for “really great dim sum” (“one of the best I’ve tasted outside Hong Kong”). The main evening menu also features “consistently above-average-quality food”. Top Tip – “go early or late to beat the crowds”.

“Never changing” but still “unbeatable for a cheap, quick meal in Chinatown before the theatre or similar”: this famous institution, seating 550 diners on four storeys and now its sixth decade, has always gloried in its no-frills swagger, although the hysterically rude service of yore is now merely “cold and brusque”. But ratings were undercut this year by one or two unusually disappointed regulars who feel “the food quality has declined” (“the chefs were ‘phoning it in’”: “char siu and duck were risible”).

“Easy going, not too fussy, but authentic” – this family-run veteran of four decades “in the heart of Chinatown” is many people’s “favourite” Cantonese spot for “dim sum to write home about”. It’s also “not as crowded as some of the other restaurants nearby”.

“Still a go-to if it’s roast duck you’re after” – see them hanging in the window of this 35-year-old Bayswater Cantonese and its Chinatown offshoots, which offer “consistently excellent” roast meats (pork as well as duck) in “a pretty basic environment that’s noisy and crowded”, along with “charmless service” – “bad enough to make you think twice about even going!”. A more positive way of looking at it is that “they don’t waste money on decor and service: it’s a reliable no-frills comfort-food experience”. Further outlets include Chop Chop at the Hippodrome and Colindale Bang Bang Oriental food hall (see also), plus three Little Four Seasons.

“Still a go-to if it’s roast duck you’re after” – see them hanging in the window of this 35-year-old Bayswater Cantonese and its Chinatown offshoots, which offer “consistently excellent” roast meats (pork as well as duck) in “a pretty basic environment that’s noisy and crowded”, along with “charmless service” – “bad enough to make you think twice about even going!”. A more positive way of looking at it is that “they don’t waste money on decor and service: it’s a reliable no-frills comfort-food experience”. Further outlets include Chop Chop at the Hippodrome and Colindale Bang Bang Oriental food hall (see also), plus three Little Four Seasons.

2023 Review: This modern pan-Asian in Covent Garden – an import from NYC – offers “playful dim sum”, alongside other “cut-above” dishes. There are “relaxed long tables for groups or cosy red-checked spots for two diners”, and the atmosphere is set by the “fun 90s playlist and friendly team”.

“Blistering Sichuan food of a standard not found elsewhere” makes this well-known regional specialist “far, far better than the average Chinatown outfit”, and it’s “still going strong”. The “amazing spicy options are true to their middle China roots” – “don’t fear the chillis, just don’t eat them!”. “Service is fine – if the ambience is a little lacking, the food more than makes up for that”.

2023 Review: A “very good” modern take on classic Cantonese cuisine from Z He and Alex Peffly (of Bun House) is presented in an atmospheric “neon-lit underground parlour in Soho, with the menus on newspapers, giving a gentlemen’s club/opium den vibe”.

“The Duck de Chine is transcendental… but so is the bill” at this lavish Chinese venue in the heart of Mayfair, where live music and regular entertainment are central to a sumptuous experience aiming – not unsuccessfully – to channel the ‘decadence of 1930s Shanghai’. In past surveys, the gap between the level of value and expense has soured reports, but all feedback was much more positive this year. Top Tip – if you want to dip your toe in the water, the £29 set weekday lunch is one way to start. BREAKING NEWS: Ironically, just as our ratings were improving, the site entered administration in July 2025, so at the time of writing its future is uncertain.

“Always enjoyable… especially the duck and the sesame toast!” – This marriage of Chinese chow with a gastropub vibe was originally dreamt up by group-creating genius Alan Yau (he of Wagamama, Hakkasan, Yauatcha and Busaba Eathai fame). But curiously, despite a cosy, heart-of-Soho setting and a steady stream of supportive feedback, it has never won a big following. Perhaps it’s the low-key interior or the “pub-average service”, but that’s really searching for criticism. Still, maybe the brand’s moment has come under new owners: after nearly 10 years it’s finally to spawn a sibling: a 185-cover space on Level 1 of Battersea Power Station. The aim here is more sleek and contemporary and necessarily less pub-like, so how much the pub element of its original concept will survive is unclear.

“The food remains exceptional” – “cheung fun and venison puffs are still raging crowd-pleasers” – at this modern Cantonese-inspired pair: the “fabulously blingy” Soho original and its follow-up in the City’s Broadgate development (there are also international branches in India and Saudi Arabia). One or two uneven reports this year raise concerns, including about “ragged service” – though, to be fair, the latter has never been great. Founded in 2004 by Alan Yau following his success with Hakkasan, the brand now sits in the hospitality portfolio of Isle of Man-based online gambling billionaire Mark Sheinberg. Top Tip – “the Infinite Yum Cha brunch on Sundays is extremely good value – and delicious”.