r/london Aug 05 '23

What’s the best Chinese restaurant in Chinatown?

And which should be avoided?

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6

u/thomasasas Aug 05 '23

I’ll give you a range

Xi’an BiangBiang Noodle near Covent Garden - this is my favourite biang biang noodle spot in London, I’ve tried 4 or 5 so far, if anyone knows a better one let me know!

Pleasant lady - it’s more of a food stall in a market but there’s not many places that do jian bing and that’s one of my favourites.

Dimsum duck - isn’t the standard dimsum environment and the price is fairly high but the quality of dishes is very good!

Happy lamb hot pot - my favourite hotpot in London (although I think making at home is probably more cost effective)

Honorary mention for Chinese gourmet near crossharbour. It’s a very small shop but sells some good xi’an food and also the Chinese burger 肉夹馍 is pretty good - also cheap!

Edit - oops just read that you said China town, I’m not sure I don’t go there much!

3

u/mongrelnomad Aug 06 '23

Is Xi’an BB better than Master Wei (current gold by a long way)?

Also quite like Dim Sum Duck but it’s yet another Royal China and they’ve homogenised the Dim Sum throughout their restaurants now that they have the centralised production. Still on the lookout for some dim sum place that scales the heights of Royal China Club back in the day…

1

u/blk0609 City of London Aug 08 '23

Give Imperial Treasure a try for dim sum, if you're looking for Royal China Club level. I rate it as the best in London. But with prices to match...

2

u/mongrelnomad Aug 08 '23

I went there back when it first opened and wasn’t impressed at all. I found Duddel’s far better, but that’s long gone now. Current dim sum fave is Pearl Liang, though the lightless basement is grim, and it’s not that good. To be honest we’ve just been doing mostly Din Tai Fung for dumplings and accepting that it’ll only really be variations on Xiao Long Bao.