Food & Drink - Soho and Chinatown

I adore asian food, in whatever city I'm in, I'll always visit Chinatown given the chance.

I've explored London's Chinatown a lot the last few trips, obviously it's a mix between tourist traps and the real thing. Some restaurants are just there to cater to unsuspecting tourists serving up food that has nothing to do with the asian kitchen apart from the name. I've been there, I've enjoyed some of that food, but there are many such places and easy to find so I'll not list them here.

Listing a few little gems that are maybe a less obvious choice, or so small or out of the way, you'll not notice they are there unless you look for them.

Jen Cafe

Jen Cafe, (on Yelp)

Jen Cafe - An order of Beijing dumplings for 5$

Chinatown, so pretty close to all West End Theaters
4-8 Newport Place
London, Chinatown, London, WC2H 7JP
Kitchen: Chinese
Price Range: £
excellent dumplings, freshly made every day.

Mon-Sun 11:00 - 23:00

Great deal, good food, local atmosphere, no tourist trap.
Will visit again.

Had an good time here, two chinese ladies making fresh dumplings in the cafe every day, you can see them work from the outside.  The place is really simple, cafetaria like surroundings, simple tables, benches, chairs.

Jen Cafe - roast duck noodle soup
quite possibly my next choice!

Walked in for lunch, service was good though the lady got a bit impatient with me for not having a clue what to order and trying to figure out the menu. No worries, I settled on the Beijing Dumplings, they were excellent.

While waiting for my dumplings two nice chinese ladies joined me at my table. I love it in these places, the best conversations happen like that, including cooking tips!

***

Tokyo Diner

Chinatown, so pretty close to all West End Theaters
2 Newport Place
London, Chinatown, WC2H 7JJ
Kitchen: Chinese
Price Range: £

Mon-Sun 12:00 - 0:00

Great deal, good food, local atmosphere, no tourist trap. Will definitely visit again.

Again, pretty simple, unpretentious restaurant, just how I like them, Prime location in Chinatown, hope they will be here for many more years! lots of locals eating here, super busy, always a good sign.

I went for the Soba Noodles, according to the menu:

"Soba noodles are thin and brown. Soba is made from buckwheat, which gives it a distinctive, nutty flavour. The taste is so good it can become an obsession: people travel all over Japan just to visit places where soba is made by hand."

I can see that, they were delicious! will definitely visit again.

***

Gelupo

Soho, so pretty close to all West End Theaters
7 Archer Street
London W1D 7AU
Kitchen: Icecream
Price Range: ££

Mon-Thu 12:00 - 22:30
Fri-Sat 12:00 - 23:30
Sun 12:00 - 22:00

icecream!

what else needs said!... well, it's a bit out of the way, you really have to look for it, and look good, before you know it you've missed it. Their ice cream is superb... good for a late night desert after a nice meal somewhere in the area... don't eat desert... walk your dinner off a little, find Gelupo and enjoy

***

Yalla Yalla

Yalla Yalla - counter with all kind of goodies

Soho, so pretty close to all West End Theaters
1 Green's Court
London W1F 0HA,
Kitchen: Beirut street food
Price Range: ££

Mon-Sun 09:00 - 23:00




Reasonable deal, good food, local atmosphere, no tourist trap, but more on the slick side than the simple cafetarian like places above. Will definitely visit again, probably will stick to lunch here, seems the easier time to get a table.

Hummus Fatoosh and home made pita

Wanted to eat here for a while, but it only has a few tables, always very busy so unless you're prepared to wait it can be hard to find a table. Finally managed it for lunch (apparently a better option to try).  Had the tasting platter  and their praised  SAWDA DJEJ (Sautéed chicken liver with garlic and pomegranate molasses) the Sawda Djej was a little disappointing, the liver was a little overcooked in my opinion, but all in all it was very good and I will try it again. Not extraordinary cheap, but definitely not passed on to the side of expensive... the place looks amazing, comfy seats.

Customers are a little more on the hipster side, certainly compared to the chinese places above... this is Soho, not Chinatown. But I don't think it's fallen to be a tourist trap just yet. It's a bit out of the way, that might be it's saving grace.

***

Noodle Bar (on Yelp)

Chinatown/Covent Garden, so pretty close to all West End Theaters

Noodle Bar - Sliced beef noodle soup

33 Cranbourne St, London WC2H 7AD,
Kitchen: Chinese
Price Range: £
tiny little thing, walk passed the touristy buffet to the back and get the hand made noodles!

Mon-Fri 10:00 - 2:00
Sat 10:00 - 5:00
Sun 10:00 - 23:00

Great deal, good food, local atmosphere, no tourist trap. Will definitely visit again.

Found this on Yelp, lovely find! this place is tiny, between Chinatown and Covent Garden. Luckily Yelp told me to not be turned off by the standard buffet at the front, but go to the back and sit to slurp noodles.

the buffet like front end is like any other take away chinese buffet in London, fried to death, overly sauced mostly sweet food... I like it at times, but I don't think it has anything to do with chinese food really.

Yelp knowledge in hand though, I got to the back, was lucky enough to get directed to a seat and went for the hand pulled noodles... YUM! 

Noodle Bar - Making hand-
pulled noodles

Noodle Bar - Order This (pic and caption from Yelp, have not tried this but will do next time!)

***

Just a few places mentioned here, I've focussed on Chinese/Japanese food my last 2 trips to London, I've visited more places than mentioned here, will probably post more about a few others in another post, if only to remind myself which places were worthy of a repeat visit.

I've definitely not explored all of Chinatowns options so not an exhaustive list by any means.... and if you've found your own hidden gems, please comment with recommendations!