Excellent restaurant with great food and good service. Good atmosphere with many rooms to eat. Located in a central area in the heart of London.
Delicious and authentic Chinese food, great service too. Favourite dishes are crispy seaweed, crispy noodles with vegetables, salt and pepper tofu, vegetables in black bean sauce.
We've been coming here for over 30 years and love it.
Have been here a few times now- good yum cha, good variety and reasonable prices. My favourites are the meat croquettes, the black bean and garlic pork ribs and the dough stick cheung fun, but there is definitely something for everyone! Only thing to watch out for is the line- there's always one snaking out on weekends, but thankfully it moves quite quickly!
Chinatown is a plethora for Chinese cooking and despite the original flair of every storefront, it does start to feel a bit homogenous. It’s hard to know what’s good and what’s bad when it all starts to mould into the same. Joy King Lau has been around since the 90s and the name means a place where people can get together to eat eat and drink. It was most appropriate as a meeting ground for our little group catchup. One of the group had been before and said it was good. We ordered a mix of dim sum (dumplings, pork bun), sweet and sour pork (£8.50) and the fried rice noodles (£8). It was all quite good, the sweet and sour pork less so. The sauce was a bit gluggy and the pieces were small chunks. The tastes are authentic and there wasn’t any lingering aftertaste, the buns were meaty and a good variety in the noodle mix. Service was to the point and we were able to be in and out in a very short space of time. So good marks for Joy King Lau.
Amazing food, fast service and very cheap.
Very effective and very Chinese. The staff is not very friendly but I would say it's cultural.
One of my favorite Chinese restaurants in London.
I heard this establishment has been around for years and I took a group of friend here. They were Dim Sum novices and I tried to give then variety from duck to pork buns to Siu Mai et al. They all thoroughly enjoyed it and tried new food namely spicy chicken feet to tripe; the highlights were the pork buns & the roast duck rice. The staff wasn't too bad from what I have read on past reviews; although they do have ear-pieces & they feel like they're on a mission. The ambience here is pretty standard to all the other restaurants & the pricing was actually cheaper than their competitors in Chinatown. I be back for some affordable Dim Sum next time.
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This place was recommended to me by a colleague from Hong Kong. It's a dependable address for daytime dim sum but I wasn't blown away by the food. Pricing is very modest, with most dim sum dishes at the £2.80 mark.
Service is remarkably efficient but not terribly warm. All of the staff wear ear pieces so are in constant communication with the kitchen, the door, etc. Everything arrived piping hot. There were several occasions when waiters stopped to check if our teapot needed refilling as they passed by. You do have to ask for soy and chilli paste, because they are not routinely brought to the table as you sit down.
The standout dish in our order was the prawn cheung fun. Plenty of big juicy prawns with the stuffed rice sheets sitting on a pleasant sweetened soy. I would also recommend the turnip paste (also known as turnip cake) and the yam croquettes which were both really tasty.
There were four pieces of har gau, which is one more than the standard portion size. However, I have had better har gau elsewhere in Chinatown. The prawn filling was made from a finely ground paste. I prefer it when the prawns are left whole, or roughly chopped into large chunks. Texture on all the steamed dumplings was otherwise perfect, with the pasta still firm. Stuffed bean curd sheets were good but not outstanding.
The dishes I wouldn't order again were the bland vegetarian dumplings and the chicken with chinese mushroom. This last dish consisted of plain steamed thigh meat with shards of bone hidden in it and half a reconstituted dried shitake on top.
It's cheap. A large lunch for two (7 dishes in total) with Chinese tea came to £25.50 before service. I think they do use MSG here. The hubby's face turned beet red upon having a glass of red wine later in the day.
A huge variety of Dimsums makes this place great. Service is not one of the highlights, and is simply brisk and businesslike. However the dimsums save the day and will make you visit again for sure!
One of the better places in China town. A decent place for dim sum at a decent price. On one of the less traveled roads of China town it is worth a detour. Consisting of 3 levels there will always be space here. Particularly good for dim sum but their larger dishes are good too.
Nice and good value dim sum. Packed in a Saturday with families and less tourists due to slightly back location from main Chinatown strip. Dim sum was better than that I had at Dumplings Legends. Top marks for Shanghai dumplings, Jin lung cheung fan, and pork buns that I normally find one dimensional. Turnip paste and stuffed bean curd weren't as good as the infamous Royal China but all other dumplings were at higher end of average. Meal for two of eight dishes which was two too many was £28 with tea.
Good thing come in small packackages?. Good food, good service, nice setting, small portions.
Crispy duck and spare ribs a touch dry but tasty still. Ginger / chilli prawns are exquisiste, beef incredibly tender and squid starter is very nice. There wasn't a hint of MSG or overseasoning..
We had a mid range set meal for £22.50/head and ate everything on the plate but without the usual. "No I couldn't possibly" or "could we take a doggy bag" etc. I wouldn't take a hungry bunch there without expecting to buy a few extra dishes.
Setting was nice and well lit, staff were busy but friendly.
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Excellent food, great value. Highly Recommended!!!. One of the other restaurants used to be my favourite in China Town. Every time I visited Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square or anywhere nearby I used to eat at that restaurant. Some time ago their management changed and along with it the chef, service and menu changed. Since then, we have been looking for a good Chinese restaurant in the area. We have tried a number of them but none of them hit the spot until today.
My wife found this restaurant after extensive research. It is located a minute's walk from Leicester Square and only a few minutes from China Town and Piccadilly Circus. The restaurant is in a small street next to the new M&M's World and looks fairly simple from outside. We visited the restaurant on the January 29th, the day Chinese New Year events were taking place in Trafalgar Square. The place was packed and luckily since it was only two of us, we managed to get a table fairly quickly.
Their menu is extensive and vegetarian friendly. The staff are friendly and efficient despite being extremely busy due to events in the vicinity. We ordered Crisp Vegetarian Spring Rolls (Dim Sum), Mix Vegetable Singapore Vermicelli Noodles (Main Dish), Mix Vegetable Crispy Noodles (Main Dish), Vegetarian Dumplings (Dim Sum) and Jar Leun Cheung Fun (Dim Sum). Chinese tea was the perfect drink along with these dishes. Every single dish was mouth watering. As I mentioned the place was packed with long queue outside and despite this, the quality or quantity were not compromised in any way. Our total bill was £23 which if you consider the location, dishes and taste was an absolute bargain.
I cannot recommend this place enough. It is my new favourite in the city and will be visiting again in the near future. I have taken some pictures and uploaded them.
Food is great - broad menu means everyone is likely to find both old favourites and new surprises. Vegetarians will find some new wrinkles on Buddhist favourites. Liked it loads!
Rounding off the gourmet weekend was some simple yet hearty lobster noodles at Joy King Lau in Chinatown with See Yun, Cally, and Carol...
What kind of name is that? I asked myself. Joy King Lau sounds like Chinese takeaway to me and I would probably never step into it - for dim sum anyway. In fact, I almost didn't until Kai mentioned Joy King Lau in passing when I exclaimed that I told him
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I was really excited to try this place after spotting it on Zomato. Got off at Leicester Square and found our way to it. Mind you, it was tough having to resist the tens of other Chinese restaurants that we walked past just to get to JKL. But after the convincing reviews, I kept telling myself how worthy it would be to just be patient in finding it.
My friend and I hurriedly walked in after much walking in the drizzle outside, we were given a seat at one of the round tables and got served a pot of hot Chinese tea. Such an amazing feeling to have something hot to drink after all that cold wind outside. The server asked us to place our dim sum orders hastily as they were about to stop serving it - so okay, we went for the Pork Buns and Chicken and Chinese Mushrooms from the steamed section - which I later on realized might have been better had it been pan fried or fried, instead. For our mains, we decided to have a large bowl of Prawn Noodle Soup, Braised Noodles with Chinese Mushrooms, Braised Noodles with Roast Pork, and a couple cans of Coke - way too much for two ladies, I know!
In most of my Chinese dining experiences, dim sums would always be served first, as this is considered to be an appetizer, however, the first two orders that we placed came in last that we even forgot about it. The shrimp noodle soup came in first, and I thought the broth was really nice and flavorful. The shrimps were definitely cooked perfectly - perhaps thrown it at the last couple of minutes, as it was really tender and nowhere rubbery. The vegetables were half cooked, which I liked. The braised noodles arrived, and I had no idea it would be that huge of a serving. Most of the Chinese ala carte restaurants I've been to were poor with the serving portions, and so we didn't really anticipate the size of this. One noodle dish could've covered our stomachs along with the noodle soup and the yet-to-arrive dim sums! My order of Roast Pork Braised Noodles was really delicious for me, it had a very nutty flavor to it - they must've used a bit of peanut butter in it - and the sweetness of the roasted pork just complemented the whole dish. Right ratio of vegetables, pork, and noodles. However, my friend's Chinese Mushroom Braised Noodles did not please her - it had a bit of bitterness in the broth, which just affected the entire dish. I was guessing this was due to the strong taste of the mushrooms. I think they also put in just a little too much of the peanut sauce/butter than supposed to. Halfway through the mains, the dim sums managed to arrive - I must say though, that the pork buns were amazing. The bun was soft and melted in your mouth, and the pork filling had an amazing balance of flavors - sweet, salty, really nice and tender pork. Was not too crazy about the Chicken and Chinese Mushrooms, I thought it needed a little bit more of seasoning to it.
Overall, the experience was great. There were definitely lots of hits and misses. If you're a health-conscious eater, you might want to rethink ordering their braised noodles as it was greasy. Serving portions are huge, so reconsider the number of dishes you're to order :). It'll save you a whole lot!
Located in Chinatown this restaurant gives you great service, value for money and quality food. I go here often for Dim Sum and it never disappoints. I always enjoying coming here. Always busy and full of happy people enjoying the food and relaxing.
The best dim-sum in London!!! First time when I tried dim sum was here and everywhere else I've tried since then was still not as good as this place.
Of course, the restaurant was recommended by a Chinese friend and first time, she ordered all the food for us and then later on when I came back here with other friends we took the risk and ordered randomly as I couldn't remember what I had before. I have to say that every single dish was perfect. The menu is vast with plenty of choices. I wish they could do dim sum all day long but unfortunately they stop at 4 or 5.
Service is incredibly quick considering how busy is the restaurant.
I highly recommend this place to all the dim sum lovers.
The bf and I had an urge for something light easy and quick. So we decided to check out this place as it was clearly buzzing and the recommendations come high. You can generally tell a good Chinese restaurant if there are plenty of Chinese people inside!
So there was a huge queue but we didn't have to wait long. We were seated and we placed our orders. Maybe we decided on 4 dishes to satisfy our needs. Three of our dim sum choices came quite quickly as we devoured the tasty morsels (the prawn dumplings are pretty great). However the final rice option never materialised which was very disappointing and quite frankly we had no more patience to wait any longer so we paid our bill and left.
Let's just say, try not to go when it's a Saturday afternoon. If it were a quieter time we'd probably have enjoyed ourselves more.
Dim sum you want ???
Dim Sum you get !!!
Authentic & delicious at a very cheap price !
Don’t hesitate to ask for extra stuff like Soy sauce, as the staff are quite responsive. Long list of steamed and fried dim sum. Be warned, there’s always a long line for weekend dim sum. Plates between £2-3 each.
But don’t go here for dinner. Although not bad, there are better places.
Food: The food was the highlight of the place as everything we ordered was of very high quality and it was delicious and authentic.
Service: The service was good overall, and we appreciated the fact we got a table for 8 when there was only three of us. There was a bit of confusion over the table that we had and the fact we were able to only order once on the paper can be a little bit complicated, but we do appreciate the prompt service.
Atmosphere: The atmosphere was nice but the table was a bit wobbly. However, that being said, I always do have a wonderful time bringing my friends here
It is a wonderful place for people to try dimsum and we will come again.
I cannot thank the restaurant staff enough for their exceptional service at our event. From the servers to the chefs, everyone went above and beyond to ensure that our guests were well taken care of. The food was delicious, the ambiance was perfect, and the staff was so friendly and accommodating. We are truly grateful for the amazing experience.
We were looking to have dinner and the main area in Chinatown was too crowded. Long quees and heavy bumpings. So we decided to try Joy King Lau, just at the corner of the main Chinatown, we got a table just when a couple left. The staffs were very nice. Food was good and the portion size was big comparing to what we had a few days ago in another Chinese restaurant in the same area. More important the place was clean and comfortable.
Amazing dinner at Joy King Lau. We are regulars here but tonight, the planets aligned…
Atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ GREAT positive energy with people enjoying themselves
Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ OUTSTANDING. The service team on the 1st floor was amazing. The gentleman who served us was lovely. He always kept and eye on our table and made sure everything was perfect. Kept topping up our teapot so we never had to ask for a refill. This has never happened in any Chinese restaurant before. 🎉
Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ DELICIOUS. On this occasion, we celebrated with the lobster dish with crispy noodles. I don’t know why we hadn’t tried before but this is a must. It tasted so fresh and delicious. Thought it’s MP, it’s worth every penny…
If you are craving quality Chinese. JKL is the place to come and FEAST❤️❤️❤️
Visited this restaurant for lunch while visiting the theatre to watch Book of Mormon and it was brilliant. The restaurant is split between 4 floors and is big but the service is super quick. We also managed to get a seat with a minimal wait. We went for a mix of Dim Sum and mains for lunch. The dim sum tasted great and was generous. The mains were great, I went for a roasted pork rice and the portion was huge and tasted amazing! The prices were great compared to quality of the food which might be a reason why the place was full when we visited. Highly recommended!
The food was great. Everytime we come, it’s always hot and fresh. The staff and service is okay, they don’t greet you properly and the atmosphere is rather quiet.
Love this place for the quality normally. Food 4/5 (The capital ribs usually fall off the bone but we had 2 portions this time with chewy pork. The mixed Dim Sum platter and vegetable spring rolls were nice but nothing amazing. The Schezuan Chicken, egg fried rice and Singapore noodles are recommended and very nice. Service: 2/5 (fast with no charisma or connection and a service charge of 12.5%! Optional...yes but you'll get attitude). Vibe: 3/5 (80s British-Chinese restaurant decor; nothing plush). Value: 3/5. £51/head is not worth it! Overall: I will go again but will clarify if the ribs will be as expected before ordering. With these prices, I won't be going back as much but that doesn't stop other people lining up outside on a Saturday evening! If you're keen, book in advance as it's very popular despite all of this.
How can you not have Roast Duck/ Pork/ BBQ Pork in London Chinatown? We have decided to give this restaurant a try. The service was attentive and the food was served promptly too. Overall, the Roast Duck was average. It could be meatier and the skin could be crispier. On the other hand, we were impressed with the roast pork. It was crispy on the outer layer and juicy in the inner layer yet did not feel very fatty. BBQ Pork was sweet and tender. These roast meats went down so well with a bowl of rice. They do serve dim sum. We can’t wait to go back for their dim sum 🥟. The price was average, 3-platters meat costs ~£28 and it could easily served 2 people.
Jonelle Alvarez Reynolds
+4
Enjoyed our dinner and would probably come back if we were in the area and wanted to go somewhere that we knew we could rely on or not try something new. Service was good and restaurant was clean.
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Found this restaurant by luck. Since we missed the main event of the Chinese new year, we did a catch up the following weekend to celebrate it. Who would have thought that every single restaurant in China town is fully booked then there would be a waitinglist/time of approx avtage 30min - 1 hour.
We saw this restaurant had few people waiting and when we asked about the waiting time it was approx 10 - 15min. In less than 10 min we got in. Don't let be fooled by size of the restaurant, if you judge by the door and the window, don't cus it has 3 floors.
To order is simple; you have the menu in front of you which is divided in boxes.on the menu, In the empty box infront of the dishes , you add the number of that dish you want.
NOW - this part it's tricky and you need to pay ATTENTION!
The restaurant has a single policy and it's only one ordering. Meaning you only get one order and your are finished. So if your hungry make sure you order enough food..
The reason behind it it's because they are busy over the weekend and avoid longer waiting time. I mean business wise I understand but as a customer, hungry customer it's annoying.
The location is central and easy to find,
The food is delicious and there are mix of dim sum selections ,however, I wish there was more option with no pork in the food. Remember they don't only serve dim sum but they have a huge dishes to select from which has a decent price tag on it. With our dim sum we had jasmin tea which was alright, did lack a bit of flavour but otherwise it was alright.
Good dim sum 👍
Staff are very professional and helpful. I tried to sweet talk on of the staff to give us a second round.
I was almost managed to convenience her if her colleague walked passed and said something.
She wanted to help but couldn't do anything with the policy.
I enjoyed this place and if you do get a table on the other floor, you might walk past a pay phone which is a blast from the past.
Regretted that I didn't manged to try steamed buns with custard. I'll be back to try them.
Update: don’t come here for the bbq meats. They aren’t freshly made.
Really good dim sum for the money (authentic Hong Kong taste). The Prawn Cheung Fun was fresh and very good. Service was good and servers were prompt to refill the teapot without asking. Definitely coming back.
This is a deceptively large restaurant which is based on multiple floors of the building.
Considering the size of the place, service was very fast.
I liked the extensive menu and the self order style menu which brought me back to my time living in Hong Kong.
It has a very authentic feel to it and the location is excellent.
If you’re going out to London for some dim sum, you wouldn’t regret choosing Joy King Lau.
Authentic Hong Kong taste but they made mistakes. They missed our order, they undercooked one dim sum, but the taste is what I really miss in Europe.
As close as you can get to HK dim sum quality from abroad. You can tell it was made by a HK chef by the way they make the dim sum. Thoroughly enjoyed the crispy bean curd & prawn paste cheong fun, steamed bean curd rolls, har gau, BBQ pork pastry puff and deep fried cuttlefish.. they were all legit! However the skin of the crystal skin dumplings were on the thicker side and not as delicate. Overall, their dim sum are quite generous in filling making it quite succulent.
A particular waitress who was serving us was very rude and seems like she woke up on the wrong side of the bed… she really got no chill and made it seem like she was doing us a favour by serving us. The other wait staff was quite pleasant and cheerful tough.
Food : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Value : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ambiance : ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Service : ⭐️ ( only to their waitress that was serving us)
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