Crispy Duck

A teenage me stumbled into China Town’s Crispy Duck restaurant about a decade and a half ago. I hadn’t been to Asia at that point… actually I’m a little embarrassed to admit it but I hadn’t eve tried Chinese food at that point (my parents are Irish and do not eat out. Ever). So I hadn’t tried it. Until that fateful day…
Crispy Duck breaks a newcomer into the ways of Chinese food easily, with their tasty and varied range of treats. I’m not sure if I ordered their Turnip Cake or their Chicken-​with-​Cashew-​Nuts that day. But rest assured I have ordered it many times since.
Crispy Duck; you’ll always be my first experience of Chinese food (albeit Anglicised Chinese food, like the rest of your China Town neighbours). And to you I will always return. Great service, fair prices, quality food, spacious atmosphere; you offer everything I want in a Chinese restaurant.

Really expensive but really excellent Chinese food… Some of the best I ever had! The crispy duck is an obvious must-​have!

This was the first Chinese I ever went to in China Town. Well priced, good service and the char siu bau tastes just the same as in Hong Kong. It may not have as many frills and spills as others but being there at Chinese New Year was brilliant.
***The dim sum is fantastic! Go for 11ish on a Saturday or Sunday for the freshest dumplings***

We had just arrived from a 7 hour journey from Taunton to London and were famished! The bf kept exclaiming «crispy duck» and we knew we needed to have some. So I got on the trusty old Unilocal and found the aptly titled Crispy Duck.
We were promptly seated upstairs and got the preset menu for £13.50 a person.
We started with the crab and sweet corn soup. The boyfriend loved it, I am not a fan of sweet soups but the taste was ok. Next came the crispy duck. The duck was just crispy enough and the plum sauce was sweet and complemented the crispness of the duck. Any sweeter and it would have been too much. After the duck we were served our mixed veggies, sweet and sour pork, and king prawns in black bean sauce. Yum, yum, yum is all I got. I ate this all over the fried rice that was to accompany these dishes. Once the meal was finished we got up and waddled our way out.

We had the set dinner. Great value at 13 pounds each. Food was really tasty.

Divine Duck. I’m not a vegetarian but will savor those delicious memories!

The best Chinese in Chinatown!
I tried the place next door to the ‘Crispy Duck’ on Chinese New Year — the food was severely disappointing. By comparison, the ‘Crispy Duck’ provided a great range of dim sum and main dishes. During my visit I had my usual, which was the Cantonese roast duck, pork buns and prawn dumplings. All of these dishes were very authentic.
The only con is that the restaurant is so far away from where I live! But if your in the area this is one of best places for Cantonese roast duck. You may find that many people highly recommend the Aromatic Crispy Duck. However I don’t — as I don’t like how the duck is deep fried. Furthermore you also miss out on the lovely flavors Cantonese duck has to offer. In other words it just tastes deep fried! Try the Cantonese Roast duck for change.
Overall I give this restaurant 5 stars! This was mainly because of its excellent food. However, I would also like to note that the service needs a little improvement in relation to the the waiters manner and behavior — i.e. they seem very grumpy.
Overall you can’t give this restaurant a miss!

The Crispy Duck Chinese restaurant in London’s Chinatown is one the numerous Chinese restaurants in the area.
What makes this restaurant better than any of the others?
Hard to say to be honest but in it’s own right the quality of the food is excellent, the service is as good as anywhere else and the atmosphere is on a par with other establishments.
I would recommend the spare ribs with salt and chilli, crispy duck and the chicken satay.
Works out at around £25−30 with a beer.

Selecting a restaurant in China Town is always a little hit and miss. Just wanting a small bite before catching the train home to Brighton, we were perusing the menu when a friendly Chinese girl popped out in to the cold to encourage us in. I appreciated the fact that we had chance to review the menu before we got harassed!
We were shown to a table by the window on the first floor. The clientele included a good mix of Chinese diners, usually a good sign.
We decided to order the mixed h’orderves for two followed by half a crispy duck, washed down with a couple of tsing tao (a little on the pricy side seeing as I watched the waiter pouring the beer directly out of a can!)
The h’orderves were a bit hit and miss, mostly tasting if they had been hanging around for a while. The spring rolls were hot and fresh but the seaweed was soft and tepid, the chicken and ribs a little tough and chewy and the prawn toast was just average.
The duck was a good sized portion, and tasty if a little dry, and the pancakes a little floury.
That said, the staff were very friendly, and were happy to provide my boyfriend with the hottest sauce available on request.
We didn’t try any of the main dishes so I unfortunately can’t comment on these, and although not a terrible experience, I’ve definitely had better meals in China Town
They do sneak a hidden service charge on to the bill as well, so do check for this before paying.

very cheep, but very good food. go for the aromatic duck and order some mixed greens with it. Place does not come across as clean, but you don’t come for the admosphaere but the food.

I wanted dim sum and thought for my first dim sum experience in London let’s hit Chinatown. We went into the first restaurant we found with both the ubiquitous sign of good food, carcasses in the window, and a clear sign advertising dim sum. The Crispy Duck won.
We were lead through the dining room into some tight, dodgy stairs into the basement where I was pretty sure we were going to be trafficked. Instead, it wound up being another, darker, emptier dining room where we were seated and given both a regular dining menu as well as a dim sum menu. I was initially confused about the seating arrangements because the upstairs dining room wasn’t full. But, this basement dining room quickly filled up so we didn’t feel discarded or lonely for long.
The dim sum itself was lovely. We ordered five plates and a couple beers and the total was exactly £19.80. However, the bill we were given was for £21.80 and was delivered on a plate advertising the virtues of tipping. If I hadn’t done the math, we would’ve tipped on top of the already added gratuity because there was nothing that said it had already been added. Tricky.
Besides the check dodginess the experience was fine and the food was very good and very filling. Happily, my first dim sum experience in London was a good one.

Excellent China Town spot for dim sum. Good price, a lot of options, and very fresh food. Friendly staff and nice atmosphere.

Food here was amazing. The duck is MEATY! Probably an England thing, but compared to the duck we eat in California this one has way less fat and is much more tasty. I’m jealous.
We also ate some veggies and dim sum. The bamboo+beef meatballs were as good as any SF Chinatown dim sum/​bakery shop meat I’ve had. The fook yuen fried rice was good too. The zhaliang (rice-​wrapped chinese donuts) were the right consistency and not soggy. Their xiao long bao was mediocre, but that’s because I’m spoiled by taiwanese XLB.
The staff was very friendly, the tea was good as well and I am definitely glad we stopped in here.

Love the Chinese fare at this hole in the wall joint that is open late and perfect for the drunk crowds post pub crawling. Their egg fried rice is the best I’ve ever had and they make a mean chicken in black bean sauce as well.

London on a Sunday night, what’s open that actually serves good food — remember I’m an American. Ethnic food will have to save the day so I go in search of something with my Asian friend and he declares that anywhere that displays ducks with the heads still on hanging from hooks in windows has to be a decent place to eat.
We sat upstairs, can’t remember which floor, and my friend ordered in Mandarin — always sounds like he’s putting a centuries old curse on someone — and various duck and noodle dishes appear shortly afterwards, including some jelly-​fish — first time I had it and it was excellent.

Nice and authentic food in Chinatown. Service is friendly and prices are fair.

Wanting to try the Chinese food in London we decided to stop here for dinner. Not realizing that the dining room was split between 5 different floors we were seated on the 4^th floor. Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem but I had my 88 year old grandmother in tow with a bad knee.
We ordered several different dishes… hot pots with preserved vegetables and pork belly to sauteed pea vines in garlic sauce. All in all everything was good. Nothing spectacular stood out which is why I gave it my average 3 star rating…
If I am back I would probably try some other restaurants just to see what they offer.

A spur-​of-​the-​moment trip to Chinatown for dinner found us at the Crispy Duck. We’ve had our share of good and bad in Chinatown and this is definitely in the GOOD side.
Very reasonably priced, exceptionally quick and efficient service and delicious food. One to remember next time friends or family are visiting and want a little Chinatown adventure.

Blog post with photos:

Had been wanting to go to a dim sum restaurant in Leicester Sq. for a while having taken a half day I decided to treat myself to a pay day lunch. I had intended to go to New World but a work colleague told me to go to Crispy Duck. I made the right choice. Their dim sum menu is extensive, very reasonably priced, well sized and most importantly delicious. I had a great service and can now say that I’ve experienced traditional proper dim sum. I won’t be going back to the likes of Ping Pong I can now see that they are poncy fakes! Do visit here if you can next time I will be trying New World :) I had: 1 medium Won Ton soup, black bean pork, prawn and chive dumpling and Vietnamese spring rolls (yes all to myself!) with green tea came to £11.90

Chinese food ranges from home-​cooked goodness, to amazing restaurants but there exists a huge dynamic of everything in between.
So, this restaurant boasts nothing but awfulness. I WAS STILL HUNGRY after because I couldn’t even eat anything good.
: Vegetables weren’t even washed well — still sandy.
: The roasted duck? So oily, I’m pretty sure that amount of oil could fuel 1 McDonald’s restaurant for a week.
: The soup? My chicken and mushroom was barely warm and the «seafood and tofu» was nowhere near fresh, and had barely a hint of taste — besides salty MSG.
What was worst was the cleanliness and environment. Seeing fingerprints all over my plate PRIOR to usage? Disgusting, especially seeing it in the middle of the plate. AND! the downstairs where we sat was practically their bathroom — that’s what it smelled like at least.
The environment consisted of loud asian chomping and rude table manners, complemented by loud and rude asian staff.
Is it really necessary by the way, to stand in front of your restaurant entrance to get customers to come in? Especially when you can’t even communicate with them… A BIG HEADACHE this place is.

On the main drag of Chinatown’s Gerrard Street, it’s actually quite hard to find decently priced roast duck. After legwork and careful tasting research, this is where the price/​taste curves meet to offer best value for taste.
I pop in here to get roast duck as a takeaway treat for me and my sister when I’m on the area. The duck portion is generous. Just make sure that they put some sellotape over the little pot of sauce that they give you with the duck. I’ve had the odd disaster before where the lid has fallen off the pot when it was in my bag.
Sorry I can’t comment in the crispy duck but the roast duck is yummy!