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The Best Chinese Food in London

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The best Chinese food in London, according to the experts: the Michelin Guide, the National Restaurant Awards, and The 50 have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. A. Wong comes out on top.

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Dim Sum Duck and Barshu hold the next two places. The Michelin Guide shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Eater next.

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  1. Rank 1. A. Wong

    Cantonese

    A 42-cover Chinese restaurant in Victoria that holds two Michelin stars while somehow managing to feel relaxed about it. The evening menu takes you on a three-hour tour of China's regional cuisines, including dishes virtually unknown in the UK, while lunch leans into exceptional dim sum. Start with a drink downstairs in the Forbidden City bar before heading up, and let the team explain each dish, because they clearly want to.


  2. No reservations, a queue out the door by noon, and a gazebo on the pavement that somehow makes waiting feel intentional. This small, family-run Cantonese spot on King's Cross Road keeps things simple and unadorned, with a wide menu of carefully cooked dishes that reward the patient. An hour in the queue is not unusual, but the team moves things along, and the room is lively enough to make you feel smug for staying.


  3. Rank 3. Barshu

    Sichuan

    Carved wood panels and paper lanterns set the scene at this Soho Sichuan restaurant that's been around long enough to feel like part of the neighborhood furniture. The chillis and Sichuan peppercorns come direct from China, and you'll feel it, in a good way. Portions lean generous, which suits the sharing format well. The room fills with regulars who've long since stopped second-guessing the heat level.

    The awards


  4. Rank 3. Canton Blue

    Cantonese

    Canton Blue has its own street entrance on the side of the Peninsula, which is the hotel's way of signaling that this Cantonese restaurant takes itself seriously. The dining room is the sumptuous kind that rewards dressing up, and the menu runs from dim sum to Peking duck for two. The cocktail bar, Little Blue, gives you somewhere elegant to begin while you decide whether to order both.

    The awards


  5. The awards


  6. A former bank on Waterloo Place, all onyx walls and white leather, now houses the London debut of a Cantonese group with outposts scattered across the globe. The scale is unapologetically grand, which suits the menu: traditional Cantonese cooking that ranges from honey-glazed char siu to Peking duck finished with caviar, in case you'd like something to tell people about later. Dress accordingly and don't arrive thinking about the bill.

    The awards


  7. Rank 3. Kai

    Chinese

    A glitzy Chinese restaurant in Mayfair with a tropical fish tank keeping watch over the dining room. The menu sweeps the whole country but leans into the southern Nanyang region, mixing a handful of long-cooked classics with more elaborate, adventurous plates. The wine list quietly folds in some Chinese options, which is either a fun rabbit hole or an easy conversation starter, depending on who you're with.

    The awards


  8. Peking duck is the signature at this elegant Chinese restaurant set inside a Georgian townhouse, where the dining room takes its cues from 1920s Shanghai. The menu roams across China with stops in Hong Kong and Singapore, and the kitchen leans into its Mayfair postcode with some conspicuously luxurious choices. The room is bright and the service polished, so dress accordingly and don't be surprised when the bill matches the curtains.

    The awards


  9. Rank 3. Poon's

    Cantonese

    The Poon name has meant Chinese cooking in London for generations, and Amy Poon has brought it back in an elegant, warmly hued room beside Somerset House. The menu runs from wind-dried meats and wontons to claypot rice and roast duck salad, with a late-night snack selection for anyone who shows up after nine. The open kitchen keeps things lively in what could otherwise feel like a rather grand dining room.

    The awards




  10. The dining room sits, quite inexplicably, on the ground floor of a Holiday Inn Express just off the Blackwall Tunnel, which should tell you everything and nothing about what to expect. This is a dim sum and Cantonese restaurant with real pedigree, the kind where the wok-fried king prawn noodles arrive with genuine smoke still on them. Eater named it one of London's 38 best restaurants, and the trek to SE10 is a perfectly reasonable price of admission.


  11. Rank 10. Sofu Coffee

    Yunnan Coffee Shop


  12. Rank 10. Wong Kei

    Cantonese

    The roast duck hanging in the window has been the opening argument on Wardour Street for longer than most of Soho's current residents have been alive. Wong Kei is an old-school Cantonese restaurant across several floors, famous for wontons, char siu, and service so legendarily curt it became a tourist attraction in its own right. Chinatown has moved on to bubble waffles and regional menus; Wong Kei has not moved, which is entirely the point.


  13. Rank 10. Yi-Ban

    Cantonese

    The wooden staircase leading up above a mixed martial arts gym tells you everything about this Docklands dim sum restaurant before you've even put your name down for a table. Sunday lunch here means joining a queue of dozens, then surrendering to a rolling procession of tea, prawn and chive dumplings, cheung fun with XO sauce, tripe, ribs, and roast meats. It appears on Eater's list of the 38 best London restaurants, and the regulars driving out to E16 would not argue.


  14. Rank 16. Hunan

    Chinese


    Address
    51 Pimlico Rd, London SW1W 8NE, UK · London
    Hours

    Closed now, opens 6 PM

    Monday 12:30 PM–2:30 PM, 6 PM–11 PM

    Reserve
    SevenRooms
    Online
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The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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