The 17 Best Chinese Restaurants in London & Chinatown (2026)

The special-occasion rooms. Five places for a big night, from two Michelin stars to a restaurant with no menu at all. A. Wong, by Victoria station, is the headline: Andrew Wong's kitchen cooks its way across China's regions, and it's the only Chinese restaurant in London with Michelin stars (two). After a summer refit and a residency in Mayfair, it's back in Pimlico from 29 September 2026.

Order: at dinner there's one choice, the Collections of China tasting menu (£235, vegetarian version too). At lunch, dim sum by the piece: the Shanghai steamed dumpling (£6), the siu mai with pork crackling (£5.50) and 'memories of Peking duck' with foie gras (£16). Spend: £235 at dinner before drinks; at lunch the kitchen suggests 8 to 10 pieces a head. The menu online dates from before the refit, so confirm prices when you reserve. Book: SevenRooms, card required. Pay: card. Tube: Victoria, one minute. The catch: dinner lasts roughly three hours, and Google reviews are split between people who loved the detail and people who found it short of two-star excitement. Lunch is the cheaper way to decide which camp you're in.

Imperial Treasure is the London branch of a Cantonese restaurant group, on Waterloo Place just off Pall Mall. It's in the Michelin Guide, and it's the one I'd book for Peking duck done as ceremony: carved at the table, with a second course from the bones.

Order: the Peking duck (£148, and you must pre-order), then the roast meats; one Google reviewer calls the char siu the highlight. At lunch, the king prawn dumplings (£12 for four) and Shanghai soup dumplings (£11 for three). Spend: the weekday dim sum set lunch is £40; at dinner the duck works out at £37 each shared between four, before anything else. Add 15% service. Book: online, and order the duck at the same time. Pay: card. Tube: Piccadilly Circus, 5 minutes. The catch: it's expensive, and the duck alone is £168 with the second course.

Hakkasan Mayfair cooks modern Cantonese food in a dark, low-lit room; one Google reviewer describes a DJ playing on the lower floor. It's in the Michelin Guide, and it's the pick if you want a Chinese dinner that feels like a night out, not a quiet meal.

Order: the black truffle har gau (£16), the slow-roasted Iberico char siu (£36), and the steamed dim sum selection (£49) to share. Spend: the autumn set lunch is £29 for two courses (weekdays, until 15 November), and the Taste of Hakkasan early and late menu is £35; set menus for two or more run £80 to £158. Book: SevenRooms; there are walk-in tables and the bar needs no booking. Pay: card. Tube: Green Park, 7 minutes. The catch: à la carte climbs fast (the Peking duck is £130), and the dress code is strict.

MiMi Mei Fair has two ornately decorated dining rooms on Curzon Street, with a menu that roams from Canton to Hunan, Sichuan and Shanghai. It's in the Michelin Guide, and its £21.50 set lunch is the cheap way into Mayfair.

Order: the half Peking duck (£68), the Xiao Long Jewels, soup dumplings in five flavours (£32), and the Hunan crispy sea bass (£69) if you're sharing. Spend: the set lunch and early dinner is £21.50 for two courses or £24.50 for three (Monday to Thursday); à la carte mains run £19 to £69. Add 12% service and a £3 cover charge. Book: online, with a card. Pay: card. Tube: Green Park, 3 minutes. The catch: a per-head fee for late cancellations, and one Google reviewer found the upstairs room cramped for a group.

Hunan on Pimlico Road has run since 1982 on a simple idea: there's no menu, the kitchen sends out a long run of small dishes, and you tell them about any diets. Despite the name, the dishes range across Taiwan, Hunan, Sichuan and Guangdong. It isn't in the Michelin Guide, and it's the one I'd book if you like being surprised.

Order: the 'Leave it to us' menu, which is the only option: 12 courses at lunch, up to 18 at dinner, with dishes like xiao long bao and black cod with Chinese vinegar. Pre-order the whole roast duck (£80) for a group. Spend: £69.80 at lunch, £128.80 at dinner, before drinks. Book: SevenRooms. Pay: card. Tube: Sloane Square, 7 minutes. The catch: no choosing, drinks are dear (corkage is £60), and one Google reviewer left lunch still hungry.

Chinatown, honestly. London's Chinatown is a few pedestrian streets off Leicester Square, centred on Gerrard Street, and it's mostly Cantonese. It's a good place for dim sum at lunch or a plate of roast duck, and I'd go for exactly that. For a special dinner, go elsewhere. Most of the big rooms are busy, fast and middling on Google: on 28 September 2026, most sat in the high threes. Stick to these three, go at lunchtime for dim sum (Golden Dragon stops serving it at 5pm), and check the menu before you sit down. Joy King Lau on Leicester Street is my pick: a long Cantonese menu, and rated far above its neighbours at 4.6 from more than 10,000 Google reviews.

Order: har gau (£6), siu mai topped with crabmeat (£6), custard buns (£6) and roast pork cheung fun (£6.80). Spend: those four plates and tea for one come to about £30 with the 12.5% service; tea is £2.20 a head. Book: online through TheFork. Pay: card. Tube: Leicester Square, 3 minutes. The catch: it's built for speed, not lingering, and the tea charge applies to everyone.

Golden Dragon is one of the big Gerrard Street dim sum halls, with a long, cheap list of dumplings, buns and cheung fun. Its Google score (3.9) is mixed, but the dim sum is fairly priced, and it's the one I'd walk into on a weekend, when it takes no bookings anyway.

Order: prawn dumplings (£6.20), pork soup dumplings (£6.20), lava custard buns (£6.80) and king prawn cheung fun (£7.80). Spend: those four come to about £30 with the 12.5% gratuity. Book: by phone only, two days ahead on weekdays; weekends are walk-in. Pay: card, but not American Express. Tube: Leicester Square, 4 minutes. The catch: dim sum stops at 5pm, and some Google reviewers report a queue and food arriving cool at busy times.

Four Seasons is famous for one thing: Hong Kong-style roast duck, chopped on the bone. Its Google reviews (3.8) are uneven: regulars rate the duck highly, but some recent reviewers found it dry.

Order: half a roast duck (£23.50) with rice, or barbecue meat on rice (£12.80 with one meat, £15.80 with three) for a quick lunch. Spend: £15 to £30 a head with the 12.5% gratuity. Book: online. Pay: card. Tube: Leicester Square, 3 minutes. The catch: the waiters want you to order quickly, and the duck isn't as consistent as its reputation.

Cantonese beyond Chinatown. Four places cooking Hong Kong and Guangdong food better, or more cheaply, than most of Chinatown. Poon's is a revival: founders Bill and Cecilia Poon retired in 2003, their daughter Amy revived the name with pop-ups from 2018, and Somerset House became its permanent home in November 2025. It's in the Michelin Guide, and it's the Chinese restaurant I'd pick before a show on the Strand.

Order: the claypot rice with wind-dried meats (£20), the pork wontons (£12) and a pan-fried wind-dried sausage (£6). Spend: the '3 dishes, 1 soup' set is £29 at lunch and until 6.30pm; à la carte, a claypot and wontons come to about £36 with the optional 13.5% service. Book: online, and some tables are kept for walk-ins. Pay: card. Tube: Temple, 5 minutes. The catch: closed Sundays and Mondays, and some Google reviewers came with high hopes and left underwhelmed.

Royal China on Baker Street belongs to a small London group cooking traditional Hong Kong Cantonese food, and it's a busy dim sum room with a long menu. It's the one I'd send a family to for a weekend dim sum lunch: it's step-free, with an accessible toilet.

Order: har gau (£6.80), siu mai (£6.50), the black gold lava custard buns (£7.50) and the Royal China cheung fun (£8.50). Spend: four plates and tea come to about £35 a head with the 13% service. Book: OpenTable; one Google reviewer found Saturday lunch walk-in only, so arrive early at weekends. Pay: card. Tube: Marble Arch or Baker Street, 8 minutes. The catch: the extras (£3 tea, £1 hot water) and a busy room where service can slow down.

Pearl Liang is a Cantonese restaurant in the Paddington Central development behind Paddington station, handy if you're catching the Heathrow Express. Most of its dim sum costs under £6 a plate.

Order: prawn dumplings (£5.80), pork shu mai (£5.40), honey roast pork buns (£5.40) and the Shanghai pork dumplings (£5.50), or the eight-piece dim sum platter (£12.50). Spend: around £25 a head for dim sum, before service. Book: SevenRooms. Pay: card. Tube: Paddington, 3 minutes. The catch: one Google reviewer notes service can be slow at busy times, and another found the crispy aromatic duck dry.

Three Uncles is a tiny Cantonese roast-meat shop by Liverpool Street station, with meats chopped to order and, one regular says, a queue by noon. It's my pick for a cheap lunch in the City, and where I'd go instead of Chinatown for roast meat on rice.

Order: the char siu BBQ pork and rice (£12.95), or two meats on rice (£14.95) with roast duck and crispy pork belly. Spend: £13 to £17 a head. Book: no bookings, 15 counter seats. Pay: card. Tube: Liverpool Street, 3 minutes. The catch: seats are scarce and not wheelchair-accessible, so it's often takeaway; the 40-seat St Paul's branch has more room.

China's regions, cheap. Sichuan, Xi'an and Shanghai cooking, mostly for under £25 a head. Ma La Sichuan is a Sichuan restaurant on a quiet residential street south of Westminster Abbey, and it's my pick for numbing, chilli-heavy food in central London. Soho's Barshu is the Michelin-listed Sichuan name, but it posts no prices online; for a meal you can cost in advance, Ma La is the one.

Order: the ma po tofu (£14), the fragrant chilli chicken (£18.80), dan dan noodles (£12) and the chao shou dumplings in chilli oil (£7). Spend: two dishes, noodles and dumplings between two come to about £26 a head before rice, drinks and the 12.5% service; set menus are £29 a head. These prices are from its October 2024 menu, so they may have moved. Book: online. Pay: card. Tube: St James's Park, 6 minutes. The catch: closed Mondays, and there's nothing else to do on the street after dinner.

Murger Han by Euston station cooks the street food of Xi'an, the old capital in Shaanxi province: wide hand-pulled biang biang noodles and the rou jia mo, a flatbread stuffed with braised pork that the name 'murger' riffs on. It's my pick for a cheap meal near a London mainline station.

Order: the oil-splashed chilli biang biang noodles (£9.95), a toasted pork murger (£6.95), and the beef marrow noodles (£15.95) if you're hungry. Spend: about £17 a head, with no service charge, free noodle refills and free tea refills. Book: online; worth it at dinner. Pay: card. Tube: Euston, 2 minutes. The catch: you eat and go, it isn't built for a long evening, and the entrance isn't step-free.

Xi'an Biang Biang Noodles on Wentworth Street, off Petticoat Lane, is the east London answer to Murger Han: the same belt-wide noodles, pulled to order. For more Xi'an cooking, Master Wei in Bloomsbury is run by chef Guirong Wei, a co-owner of Xi'an Impression in Highbury; both are well rated on Google.

Order: the biang biang noodles with beef (£13.80), a pork burger (£6.80), and liang pi cold noodles (£8.50). Spend: about £21 for noodles and a burger. Book: online. Pay: card. Tube: Aldgate East, 3 minutes. The catch: the website lists one menu for all four branches, so prices can differ slightly, and it gets busy at dinner.

Dumpling Shack is a stall in Old Spitalfields Market making sheng jian bao, the Shanghai soup dumpling that's pan-fried with a crisp bottom. It's the one I'd pick for a quick lunch on a Brick Lane or Spitalfields day.

Order: six pan-fried soup dumplings (£9.50), prawn wontons in chilli oil (£6.60) and the spicy dan dan beef noodles (£7.50). Spend: £8 for the four-dumpling meal deal, up to about £24 if you order all three. Book: no, it's a market stall. Pay: card. Tube: Aldgate East or Liverpool Street, 8 minutes. The catch: daytime only, closing at 6pm (5pm Sundays), and seats in the market go fast at lunch.

Tofu Vegan on Upper Street is an entirely vegan Chinese restaurant, and it doesn't feel like a compromise: the menu runs through Sichuan and Dongbei (north-eastern) home cooking with tofu, mushrooms and aubergine doing the work. It's the one I'd send vegans and vegetarians to, and plenty of meat-eaters too.

Order: the wontons in house special sauce (£8.20), mapo tofu (£12.80) and di san xian, the Dongbei stir-fry of potato, pepper and aubergine (£13.20). Spend: those three with rice feed two for about £20 a head. These prices are from its January 2025 menu. Book: online. Pay: card. Tube: Angel, 10 minutes. The catch: it's a walk from the Tube, and the one menu covers all six branches, so prices may have gone up since January 2025.