London Chinatown Restaurant Guide

With its counters for teppanyaki and sushi, this sizable St James’s basement (with 70 covers) offers a high-quality, traditional Japanese dining experience. All reports on the food say it can be of an exceptional standard, but even ardent fans can also find it “overpriced”.

2023 Review: “Great name… even better food” say fans of this casual, Japanese-inspired dining experience within a Soho hotel, whose all-day dining possibilities (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and afternoon tea…) were conceived by star chef Garry Hollihead. Too limited feedback as yet, though, for a full rating of its mix of poke bowls, salads, sliders and main plates, complemented by an oriental cocktail list and sake menu.

These “upscalish Italians” – part of an international chain – serve pizza, pasta and other lighter dishes, featuring the trademark ingredient. It can be that the “quality of the food is a pleasant surprise”; they inspired nothing but positive feedback this year.

“Still a special place even though it’s moved site” – this veteran Soho Italian was evicted from its previous Poland Street home over Covid, and found these new digs last year. It still “exudes old world charm” and has retained many of the former “delightful” staff, who are really at the heart of this “unpretentious” experience as much as the “reliable Umbrian/Italian cooking”.

2021 Review: Up-and-down reports on this “lovely” Soho haunt, specialising in wood-fired, Mediterranean, grilled dishes – part of Salt Yard Group (all of which was absorbed into the Urban Pubs portfolio in November 2018). Fans applaud the “delicious tapas from this ever-reliable family” but quite a few reports express disappointment: “maybe there’s a sense it isn’t quite what it was”.

“Owner Richard Corrigan is often around and the food is always good” at this “iconic” fish and seafood “classic” – 107 years old (est. 1916) – which is to be found in a side street, near Piccadilly Circus. It offers two distinct experiences: “upstairs for very elegant fine dining, or in the bar downstairs for top-notch seafood with less formality – both excellent” (although the latter gets many people’s vote, as “there is always a good buzz in the bar area with a few famous faces sometimes”). “Possibly the best oysters in town (and the best shuckers too)” number alongside “top crab” and “the notably good fish pie” as its best menu options, all in a “reassuringly good-but-expensive” mould (“comfort seafood at West End prices”). Service that’s “very attentive and kind” from long-serving staff is intrinsic to the performance.

“Handily located near the Royal Opera House”, this converted pub serves Spanish and Italian-style small plates of “food that’s just a bit better than its local competition” in the heart of Covent Garden. It is “not the best of the Salt Yard chain, but good for a quick pre-show meal”.

“Don’t be put off by the tourist location or the gold frontage” if you visit the flagship branch of this successful Italian chain near Piccadilly Circus (which is due to double in size over 2023). For a national group, it and its siblings deliver a surprisingly high-quality formula that mixes “a great range of Venetian-style small plates” with “friendly and efficient” service and “bright and vibrant interiors” which create a “wonderful and buzzing atmosphere”. Top Tip – “super for pre-theatre eating”.

This “bustling bistrot tucked down a side street near Victoria” feels “just like being in a small, rushed French café”. Lyon-born founder Aurelia Noel-Delclos named the business after the grandmother who inspired her love of food. The 10-year-old original branch, in the tourist ‘ground zero’ of old Covent Garden market, is less reported-on, but said to be “decent” for “post-matinée early dinner”.

“A great all-rounder in St James’s”, particularly popular amongst a well-heeled SW1 business clientele – this “reassuring” veteran provides the “careful service” of “no frills”, “traditional” dishes and “has been going for years” – since 1945 in fact – “and long may it last”. But even those for whom it’s a favourite note that “you pay the price when the bill comes”.

Many “magical and simply sublime” meals were reported this year at Adam Handling’s “exceptional” Covent Garden HQ, whose open kitchen delivers “creative, passionate and sustainably resourced modern British cooking” (“intricate beyond belief in presentation; and a delightful explosion of taste and texture”). The “buzzing” setting is kept in “relaxed” mood by the “fun”, “slightly irreverent” service. The catch? “You get an incredible meal, but it comes with an incredible price tag!”

“Don’t be put off by the tourist location or the gold frontage” if you visit the flagship branch of this successful Italian chain near Piccadilly Circus (which is due to double in size over 2023). For a national group, it and its siblings deliver a surprisingly high-quality formula that mixes “a great range of Venetian-style small plates” with “friendly and efficient” service and “bright and vibrant interiors” which create a “wonderful and buzzing atmosphere”. Top Tip – “super for pre-theatre eating”.

“From the pricing, you’d be forgiven for expecting a ‘standard’ Indian restaurant”, but Vivek Singh’s popular café is “surprisingly good” to those who’ve not yet discovered it and delivers outstanding value for somewhere in Covent Garden. “The menu is anything but run-of-the-mill, with interesting and creative twists on classics and some wholly new creations”. The worst gripe this year? It can get “too noisy when it’s packed”.

Zima is a Russian Restaurant located in the heart of Soho offering traditional Russian dishes with a modern twist.Treat yourself to the best priced caviar in London and other favourites of Russian cuisine, sip on our homemade selection of infused vodka and enjoy the wel...

“Slightly unorthodox” but “exceptional” Californian food “made with super, luxury ingredients” and backed up by “an interesting and mainly Californian wine list” mean Victor Garvey’s acclaimed four-year-old is “the place to head for in Soho for an out-of-the-ordinary meal”; and some believe “it should have two stars from the tyre men”. (“Highlights included flambéed langoustines with a dashi broth and foie gras; and that rare thing, a grapefruit dessert with jelly, sorbet, consommé and meringue”). If there’s a reservation, it’s about the “small and cramped-feeling” space, which critics feel “for a VERY expensive meal has really no sense of occasion at all” (“it is essentially an unremarkable café in Soho with staff who might have been officiating at some kind of sacred ceremony in a High Temple!”).

We’re in two minds about the inclusion of this former star of London’s tapas scene, which generates very little feedback nowadays despite a prime mid-Soho site. Fans do still laud its “well-crafted dishes and Spanish wines”, but others say “the food has that ‘here’s one I made earlier’ quality. OK, but not very exciting”.

Kurt Zdesar’s “loud and dark” haunts promise a culinary journey from Tokyo to Lima with some “brill cocktails” thrown in. It’s “great fun” and the Nikkei food is an “interesting fusion” too, if also a pricey one. Since 2022, the London presence has doubled with the addition of a Marylebone branch to join the first Soho one. It also has six siblings in North America and a couple in the Middle East.

“Candlelit booths, rustic French food and wine, and discreet service” make this “little slice of France in Covent Garden” “perfect for a date or anniversary”. If possible, “go downstairs and experience the brick arched cellar dining area, which is full of character and charm”. The “classic bistro fare” is “adequately prepared and comes at very reasonable prices considering the location”.

“The warmth of the welcome and quality of the food can come as something of a surprise at such a central and well-known location” as this West End branch (just north of Pall Mall) of the national group, created by Sicilian-born Carlo Distefano and now with over 20 locations nationwide. Perhaps it’s the “lovely atmosphere for either a business or social lunch or dinner” that’s its key strength, but all reports suggest the “great and varied menu” is also “consistently good”.

“A last redoubt of traditional gastronomy” – London’s oldest restaurant in St James’s (est. 1742, but on this site since the 1980s) maintains its “quiet” and “calm” style, with “understated but excellent service” and “booths that make a superb place to do business”. Classic fish dishes – for example “very good Dover sole off the bone” – are the speciality and “ever-reliable”. A less welcome constant are its “eye-watering prices”: “everything was as I hoped it would be… apart from the bill!”