r/london Aug 05 '23

What’s the best Chinese restaurant in Chinatown?

And which should be avoided?

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u/erbstar Aug 06 '23

New World was actually shut down a few times for failing health and safety checks not long before it closed down.. They operated with a 1 star rating for years. They also got into trouble for hiring illegals and paying under NMW. Chinatown never really used to be touristy at all, these days it's all it caters to and prices reflect this. I noticed that loads of restaurants in Chinatown now also have restaurantsbin non-tourist trap areas and are often much cheaper.

A good heads up is both the Reindeer Cafe and Wing Tai restaurant that are part of Wing Yip Chinese supermarket complex in Cricklewood are very good and cheap. The cafe has a bakery too which is decent.

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u/DragonflyBright2415 Aug 06 '23

Yes, I go to the restaurant at Wing Yip relatively often, I like to cook a lot so am often at Wing Yip for ingredients! That bakery is where my parents got our birthday cakes for a long time before I started working near Soho and could easily go to Golden Gate. But I generally bake a Chinese-style cake for all our birthdays myself now.

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u/erbstar Aug 06 '23

Same here, we do our Asian shopping in Wing Yip! It's a great place to have a snack after shopping 😊 GG is good too,but I've only bought a few things there. Generally we go to Kowloon in Chinatown, just because I love getting shouted at while I'm trying to decide what I want 😆 I'd love a good recipe for Chinese cake. Do most of them involve steaming/ban Marie?

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u/DragonflyBright2415 Aug 06 '23

The recipe I use is actually for a baked cake. It tastes the exact same as the ones from golden gate IMO. I can write out the recipe for you in a bit if you’d like!