Orient London
Chinese restaurant · Chinatown ·
Upscale Chinatown spot for Szechuan, Cantonese & dim sum
Upscale Chinatown spot for Szechuan, Cantonese & dim sum
"Understanding that you can’t order everything from Orient’s 70-something-item dim sum menu can be hard to come to terms with. But regardless of whether you order one dish here (the XO fried turnip cake, FYI) or several (mixed cheung fun and roast pork puffs are particularly excellent), you’re going to be satisfied. While the comfortable Chinatown restaurant’s full dim sum menu isn’t available past 4:45pm, you can still pop in for an eight-piece steamed platter after hours." - jake missing, heidi lauth beasley, rianne shlebak
"Few things are more painful than going to a Cantonese restaurant and realising, thanks to the cruel limitations of biology, that you can only eat so much of the enormously enticing menu. So, any trip to Orient for dim sum or otherwise should be with many bellies and many dishes in mind. The dim sum at this classic Chinatown restaurant is always great: fried and steamed, pork and prawn-filled, with more dishes than there are twitchy fingers at the table." - jake missing, heidi lauth beasley, rianne shlebak, sinead cranna
"Fried turnip cake with XO sauce “Growing up on Shooting Stars, the deranged late-90s Vic & Bob game show, means that it is physically impossible for me to read, think, or taste umami without saying it, uvavu-style. It’s a dreadful affliction for anyone who has the bad luck to be eating a meal with me. Fortunately I was alone when Orient’s steaming hot plate of fried turnip cake in XO sauce arrived at my table - so I kept my guttural stage whisper of ‘OO-MA-MEE’ to myself. In fact, I didn’t even say it out loud, because as soon as the turnip cake hit the table, it was in my mouth, singing the roof, and didn’t leave until the plate was empty. It’s got everything, really. Crispness and carb-like softness from the turnip cake. The crunch of beansprouts and carrots and spring onion mixed with gloops of egg. And everything coated in the seafood-laden, sausage-flecked, savoury-slickness of XO sauce. Moreish, yes. But, moreover, maybe the perfect plate of food.” - JM" - team infatuation
"Wardour Street spot Orient London is offering 30% off food and non-alcoholic drinks on Mondays and Tuesdays until the end of October." - rianne shlebak
"Tackling Orient’s menu isn’t something that can be done by a single person. The Chinatown spot has a huge variety of dishes to choose from and, quite frankly, trying every one would be an impossible task. But coming here en masse isn’t. It’s a Cantonese restaurant made for big groups—there are banquettes and big round tables with lazy Susans for you, your mates, and your peking duck to get comfortable in. Plus the wait for walk-ins is usually pretty short." - rianne shlebak, jake missing, heidi lauth beasley
