Imperial China, WC2H 7BA
- 020 7734 3388
- White Bear Yard, 25a Lisle Street, WC2H 7BA (streetmap) (osm) (gmap) (bingmap) (streetview)
- imperialchina-london.com
- noon-midnight Mon-Sat; 11:30am-10:30pm Sun
Chinese restaurant on Lisle Street in Chinatown.
It serves dim sum between noon and 5pm. The dim sum was fine. (bob, 2008)
Kat visited with her parents on a Tuesday evening in May 2016. I'd tried booking via email as suggested on the website, but didn't get a response, so I had to ring up instead. The ground floor seating area was nearly full at 7pm, the clientele being a mix of families, tourists and at least two different couples who appeared to be on blind dates.
We opted for one of the set feast menus for the whole table (£27.50/person), which covered the usual Anglicised classics: a starter platter of spring rolls, spare ribs (Kat's highlight), prawn toast and seaweed, crispy duck pancakes, then mains of Szechuan fried prawns (a decent bit of heat to these), sweet and sour pork, stir fried beef with mushrooms, mixed fried veg and egg fried rice. Not earth-shatteringly imaginative but my parents were very satisfied and the portion sizes were good. The wine list was reasonably varied and priced for the area, but only house white/red was available by the glass. Service was friendly and very efficient - our glasses of tap water were topped up throughout our meal without prompting.
Kat's verdict: my parents loved the smart, spacious decor and familiar menu choices. A solid if unexciting option among hundreds in the area.
Accessibility: the entrance is step free, though between the front door and the restaurant there is a small humpbacked bridge over a pond full of koi carp. The ground floor seating is step free, and there is an accessible toilet/baby change. Toilet cubicles are above average size.
See also:
- Flickr photos by Bob
- Time Out review
- World Foodie Guide review
- London Stuff review
- CheChe's review
- Out Of The Frying Pan review
- London Eating comments
- Qype comments