The Old Street Chinese Restaurant

Reviews

• Sanford D.

  star star star star star 9 June 2026

  After the last version of the Chinese Restaurant was sold off, a new owner came in and has completely turned this restaurant around.  FRom looking like a anemic after-school coffee shop to a slice of Beijing complete with original hotpot and real Chinese (not the silly American style), this shop is one where the locals and the Chinese expats come to enjoy themselves.
  
  Worth the time and conversation - and love doing hotpot in the real way.
  
  ---
  Zài zhōngguó cāntīng de zuìhòu yīgè bnběn bèi mài diào hòu, yī wèi xīn zhrén jìnlái bìng wánquán gibiànle zhè jiā cāntīng. FROM kàn qlái xiàng yīgè pínqióng de kè hòu kāfēi diàn dào yīpiàn běijīng, pèi yu yuánsh huguō hé zhēnzhèng de zhōngguó cài (bùshì yúchn dì měiguó fēnggé), zhè jiā shāngdiàn shì dāngdì rén hé zhōngguó wàijí rénshì lái xingshòu dì dìfāng.
  
  Zhídé huā shíjiān hé tánhuà - bìngqiě xhuān y zhēnshí de fāngshì zuò huguō.

• Sam S.

  star star star star star_border 8 June 2026

  Happened to see this place walking around and decided to check it out. Their specialty is Sichuan hot pot and they also have a lot of Sichuan dishes on the menu. The decor is dated but you won't come here for ambience. It's basic and the staff are nice but once again do what is necessary to get you fed and out. It's not really cheap place but maybe that is just me and locals might think it's reasonable.
  
  I had the braised beef in chili oil one of my favourite Sichuan dishes and it was nice. Not as spicy as I like it but food flavour. The salad of cucumber and the spinach with peanuts were fabulous and I enjoyed my meal.
  
  Service was ok and the Asian staff were not very engaging or forthcoming with recommendations. Maybe it's a language thing but I am not sure. It's about £10-25 per person depending on what you eat. The hot pot was for a minimum of 2 people and about £22 per person without drinks.
  
  I liked the food here and would come back again for Sichuan food. The flavour is food and the ingredients were fresh.

• YJ R.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 8 June 2026

  I found most ingredients are so bad  and so salty. The soup was too sweet too. Chicken piece wad too small and found some bone piece.  I cannot believe the food quality and quantity.

• Jecy B.

  star star star star star_border 3 June 2026

  Excellent food nice and flavorful, very helpful staff. We are visitors to London and they told us how to get to the tube station.

• Wendy L.

  star star star star star_border 25 May 2026

  There has been a few Chinese restaurants that has attempted their business here but they don't seem to last very long. The Old Street Chinese restaurant is the latest establishment best known for its Sichuan food and Sichuan Hotpot buffet.
  
  The restaurant brought back quite nostalgic memories of the times I was in China with the smell, simple decor of red walls and solid wood tables. The place was pretty big and most of the customers were Chinese. Even the staff spoke very basic English although service was much more friendly compared the Chinese restaurants in Chinatown,
  
  For £19.98 per person you can get a Sichuan hotpot buffet. You have a choice of a spicy Sichuan broth, a plain or both. We opt for the plain and hot which were both incredibly good.
  
  Plain hotpot base
  
  Even the plain soup had a lot of depth and umami from the chicken broth base. Red dates, tomatoes and goji berries gave it sweetness and spring onions for aromatic sweet mild heat.
  
  Sichuan hotpot base
  
  This was not just pure spicy but very fragrant as well. Containing very rich, pungent, peppery, sweet numbing spices varying from Sichuan peppercorn, fried chillies and ginger for it's flavour. Still quite mild compared to what you get in Sichuan but for me it was better that way or I my tastebuds would have been destroyed.
  
  Help yourself condiment station was a very thoughtful thing to have as many places don't offer any dipping sauces other than soy sauce.
  There were different things you can pair together to create your own sauce:
  
  Chive sauce
  Spring onion
  Minced ginger and garlic
  Chicken infused oil
  Chilli oil
  Red fermented tofu
  Sesame paste
  Oyster sauce
  Black rice vinegar
  Soy sauce
  
  I recommend
  
  Dip 1: Add mince ginger and garlic, Spring onion, sesame paste and chicken oil
  Dip 2: Add chilli oil, soy sauce and black rice vinegar
  Dip 3: Add the mince garlic and ginger, spring onion and chicken oil
  
  Another recommendation is to order a Wong Lo Kat tea to help with the spicy food or purely to help the food cool down after boiling in the broth,
  
  For our hotpot buffet we ordered:
  
  Fat lamb belly
  Fat beef belly
  Beef honeycomb tripe
  Fresh tofu
  Chinese leaf
  Rice cakes
  Fresh fish slices
  Sweet potato noodles
  Wide mung bean noodles
  Crab sticks
  Chicken on bone
  Cabbage
  Spinach
  Cooked pork belly
  Fish balls
  Beancurd stick
  Fresh prawns
  
  LAMB & BEEF
  
  Although the lamb belly, beef belly and honeycomb tripe came frozen, it still tasted very good and high quality after cooked. They were succulent and sweet in flavour and although slightly chewy, their thinness meant they were still very edible.
  
  FISH
  
  The fresh fish slices were by far my favourite, incredibly sweet and flavours enhanced when cooking in the hotpot.
  
  NOODLES
  
  Noodles were lovely and chewy and nice to have with the broth at the end when it's taken all up the flavours of the meat and veg.
  
  TOFU AND CHINESE LEAF
  
  Both the tofu and Chinese leaf were nice and fresh and absorbed the flavours of the hotpot well which also highlights the quality of the broth.
  
  CHICKEN
  
  At first I was quite disappointed at how the chicken on bone was pre cooked but it was actually nice to have it browned and seasoned before not only to keep the flavours intact but also to ensure that it was safe to eat. Being boiled in the broth to recook it, the chicken absorbed the moisture it lost and became tender and juicy again. Pretty good.
  
  PORK
  
  Pork belly was nice, bouncy and incredibly tender. The fat must have marbleised the meat beforehand when it was roasted making it nice and succulent too.
  
  VEGETABLES
  
  Cabbage and spinach were both very fresh and refreshing to have.
  
  FISH BALLS
  
  Fish balls were very bouncy and recommended to left longer in the broth to take on more flavour as it slowly soaks it up like a sponge.
  
  TOFU STICKS
  
  Same with the tofu sticks that needs longer time in the broth to rehydrate. Therefore I recommend it to be one of the first few ingredients to throw in before the rest so it becomes nice and soft. There were lovely and silky after unraveling, soaking in the hot broth.
  
  PRAWNS
  
  Prawns came surprisingly fresh and not frozen. These were okay in flavour but not the sweetness. Nice after being dipped in the sauce created and had a really good bite being bouncy and firm.
  
  I've been to a lot of hotpot buffets in London and none of them have been so reasonable in pricing yet offer such a good variety of food and high quality of ingredients for the hotpot, The broth were also well seasoned and full of depth and complexity. I was very happy with the small touches such as the self help sauce counter, the wide spacious atmosphere and service. For £19.98 it is very worth what we had and I would definitely be returning with my friends and family next.