Looking for a place to have dim sum lunch in Chinatown in London on a Friday (needs to be centrally located). I think I saw someone recommending Poons on Leicester Street on another board, someone else recommended Imperial China but it looks rather posh and some folks may be in jeans. Any other recommendations? Thanks!

I did not like Poon's dim sum. The dough tasted a lot different from ours in Calif. and not as good.

http://www.timeout.com/london/restau...iews/7355.html

Kavey and I had dim sum at Gerrard's Corner before Christmas - it was excellent and very reasonably priced. We were there on Friday and I believe they serve dim sum up until 4pm.

Regards Ger

I would suggest going slightly outside Chinatown and going to Yauatcha, which is on the corner of Berwick Street and Broadwick Street (still in Soho).

For the quality you'll get there it's very reasonable. You will probably have to book (it's in the heart of London's media district so there's a lot of lunching going on and restaurants, particularly on a Friday, can be very busy) - or at least phone ahead but it's worth it.

Don't worry at all about some of the party wearing jeans, there are very few restaurants in London that adhere to strict dress codes (even in the evening), and this one certainly doesn't. I work just around the corner and often pop in without giving a moments thought to what I wear (and I certainly don't wear business dress as a matter of course!)

It may sound a bit more expensive in the reviews than what it actually is. For example I've had lunch there with 3 men who eat a LOT and we had more than enough food - we left quite a bit that we couldnt finish - and had 2 bottles of wine (not very expensive but OK stuff) and the bill came to about £110, which was really, really reasonable.

http://www.toptable.co.uk/details.cf...6E29AE22A454B5

http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaura...?Rest_ID=82949

Wherever you decide to go, enjoy!

Thanks for the replies! I think Gerrard's Corner will work for our purposes and it gets a good write up in Time Out Cheap Eats. One question, the guide says it is heavy on seafood, I assume they also have items such as dumplings with pork, bbq pork buns, etc.?

Yauatcha also looks interesting, I may have to try to squeeze that one in as well!

They had everything one would expect for dim sum. Favorite dish WAS the calamari!

Yauatcha is over rated. 90 minute slot for dinner and dessert. Half the tables are on the very nice open area of the lower ground floor, the other half are squeezed in under the stairs and in alcoves.

If you want a great Alan Yau restaurant, Hakkasan is much better!

Heres the details for you.

http://lostmyguidebook.com/england/l...-ling-ling-bar

For dim sum, I would go to Bayswater and visit Royal China. I think it's the best in London but so do lots of other people so go early.

Another place to consider in Chinatown for Dim Sum is the cavernous New World restaurant in Gerrard Street. There are always loads of Chinese families eating there which to me is always a good sign that it's worth going to and there is a good mix of meat, fish and other dishes. Not expensive at all - the only problem is not getting carried away and ordering too many dishes!

Chinese restaurants in Belgium don't usually serve dim sum, so I'm not too familiar with it. In other posts I read it's mostly eaten for lunch. Is it possible to have dim sum at night as well?

Surely you would do better to go to China for Dim Sum, when in England live like a English man, have roast Dinner, Fried Breakfast, Tea cucumber sandwiches and cakes.

To londonengland, a question. When we eat dim sum, we just pick stuff from passing carts. When we get full, we stop picking. (The only problem with this is the bao tze don't come by often enough.) And we pay according to how many plates on our table. Do you, instead, order ahead of time?

A lot of places serve dim sum till quite late: often as late as 1700. So if you can face eating dinner preposterously early...

Otherwise Yauatcha has a full dim sum menu pretty much all day. But that's about it last time I checked, though a few dim sum places do have a few basic fried or steamed dumplings on their evening menu.

However, no-one ever went bust by copying Yauatcha, so it's quite possible someone's extended their dim sum period since I last needed an evening fix.

Mimar:
I'm not sure who "we" and "you" are. Most dim sum in London used to be trolley service: it's now old hat, and Chuen Cheng Ku is the only place left (I think) doing it. Like those places in HK which do buffet service dim sum, trolley service dim sum joints can find themselves serving pretty tired-tasting food after a while.

John44,

I have tried the roast, fried breakfast, sandwiches and cakes before. But since I'll be in London and not going to China in the near future, I'd like to try some dim sum, do you mind? All others: thanks for the help.

We liked Chuen Cheng Ku, on Great Wardour Street.