Silk Road

Incredibly tasty food. I would recommend the double cooked pork. My friend had extra hot chinese leaves and said it was really hot but delicious. Great prices as well.

I was looking forward to trying this unique Chinese restaurant, but the experience was ruined because my boyfriend ended up with food poisoning the next day. We had the cucumber salad, dumplings and the medium plate chicken with belt noodles. We are not sure what made him sick, but think that it was something to do with the chicken. This was so disappointing, as he was excited to return, and bring me along for my first time. Won’t be returning for a long while. Beware!

My home city is in Xinjiang. My junior high school friend took me here. I felt very grateful to eat my hometown food here though there are small changes on some cuisines.
Living in New York City for about 2 years, I didn’t find any Xinjiang restaurant good and reasonable as this! Highly recommend!
Yes, they are very busy and it’s better to make a reservation. Staffs tried to satisfy your requests. The first time we were there was Sunday night without reservation, and it’s crowded… they found is seats where we can stay longest time. The second time I made a reservation for two. However, it ended up one more person was coming… They still tried to find us appropriate seats even we had change at the last seconds. And they are many others customers were arriving.
Feel glad their restaurant is running well:)

Don’t bother.
We’d booked a table, arrived early. Told to wait and then told our table had been given away and they had nothing else. Staff unhelpful and rude. Went to Wuli Wuli down the road where staff were lovely, as was the food.

The fold here is outrageous. It’s mad busy and the service isn’t great but for the price there’s no better Chinese food in London. Definitely get the fish kebabs.

Just wonderful. All the food we had was excellent. Vibrant place, quick service, all good :) very suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Do reserve a table in advance!

I hear a lot of people describe Silk Road for not being the typical Chinese restaurant and more authentic because they are not one to serve sweet and sour chicken. Although that may be true I just want to clarify that most of London’s Chinese restaurant and takeaways specialises in Cantonese dishes as the first Chinese refugees were from Hong Kong so they established their cuisine in UK first and because China is a big country, cuisine can vary in different provinces.
So Silk Road specialises in Xinjiang’s cuisine in western China which has their cuisine influenced by the Mongols and the Muslim quarter which can be seen by the use of cumin in their marinates.
We arrived early and slowly saw the restaurant fill up till every table was filled and sharing tables like canteen style. Before rush hour started we saw a group of elders happily chatting away, making fresh dumplings which were probably for rest of the evening. It was really nice
to see our food made in such manner.
Décor was dated like old style school canteen with several rows of wooden benched tables and service was efficient and casual.
Xiajiang lamb shish
Marinated pieces of lamb and their fat roasted over charcoal. These were meaty, although quite chewy. It did hold in a lot of notes of spice releasing as you chew into them with cumin being the most apparent. Not the healthiest but you get the benefit of the flavour and its juice.
Beef dumplings
These were reasonable, filled with lovely stock inside. But they lacked herbs and other texture in the filling to make them memorable. The pastry could have been slightly thinner for a softer texture too.
Boiled lamb.
Back to my childhood when my mum used to get all the bones stewing from the soup we had and I used to use my fingers to dig out any meat left on them. These were just as good. The meat was lovely and fatty, falling off the bone, seasoned well and went so well with the half raw onions adding a little kick of spice. Don’t drink the broth as it is as salty as pure salt itself. I don’t think you were suppose to in the first place though.
Pork with black fungus
Home cook Chinese food at its best. Lovely sesame wine marinated pork stir fried with sweetheart cabbage and crunchy wood ear fungus. The broth was clear and sweet from all the lovely fresh ingredients.
TEP noodle
Another home comfort food. Soft silky whisked egg in a simple sweet thick tomato sauce clinging onto every strand of beautiful hand pulled noodles that were irresistible slurpish. Careful with the overload of peppers if you can’t handle spice like me. Easily avoidable though.
Middle plate chicken
I’ve seen this dish all over social media but it was a let down for me. I found the broth a bit too thin and watery and lacked the richness it needed to flavour the belt noodles. Although the noodles were disappointing too with some of it clamping together creating a layer of hard dough. Chicken was overcooked losing its elasticity and tenderness. The potatoes were fluffy but the drier variety so were forgettable. I expected better.
The luxury lamb noodles
Probably my favourite out of all the noodle dishes. Being stir fried the noodles took on more flavour and had a nice smokiness from the wok. It was skilfully cooked, perfect seasoning, juicy pieces of lamb, well spiced and lovely textures from the vegetables, meat and crispy runny egg.
I did really enjoy my evening at Silk Road although quality wasn’t consistent throughout or anything spectacular. An more authentic approach would have included more flavour and definitely a richer broth for the noodles as cooking time and marinating time would have been longer. Having been to Xi’an Impression and Chang’s Noodles that serves similar dishes I can say that it definitely falls behind them in authenticity. Whilst dining there I realise that the diners were mainly western rather than the Chinese ethnicity. That says a lot too as both Chang’s and Xi’an impression were filled with Chinese diners. Not worth making the extra journey if you live in central London but definitely worth it if you’re in the area.

I lived in NYC for two years, couldn’t find one Chinese restaurant that didn’t engage my gag reflex. My first week in London… jackpot. As a party of 3, we had booked a table and still had to wait close to a half hour, but once sat, service was swift and efficient (for our trouble, the manager graciously offered unlimited green tea free of charge). The food was well-​cooked, flavorful, and authentic without being overpriced. The «spiciness» guide is a bit off: a «1» is as if it’s totally mild, my weak taste buds could actually handle a «2.» I will certainly be returning here!

Whoa! This was easily one of the best Chinese meals I ever had outside of China. But don’t even think of coming unless you have a reservation or are willing to wait for a long time for a table. We came on a weekday night around 8 PM and it was filled to the brim, with a ton of people waiting outside. I was surprised that the diners were non-​Asians. From past experiences, this would be an indication that the restaurant serves «Westernized» Chinese food. Luckily that was not at all the case.
We ordered ten dishes to share, plus more than a dozen of lamb skewers, which were absolutely authentic and brought me back to childhood days standing on the street corners in Northern China on the coldest days of winter, stumping my feet for warmth while waiting for my skewers to cook on rectangular grill boxes.
Seriously, try everything! There was nothing I wouldn’t recommend, from cucumber in sauce to beef stir-​fry to dumplings. Even the cabbage in vinegar sauce dish was wonderful, crunchy with the perfect balance of sweet and sour flavors. Who knew cabbage can be this tasty?!

This place is pretty delicious and it won’t break the bank. The most we have ever spent hear was £18 per head with a beer each and it resulted in a food coma. Try to find 4 or so friends so that you can order, share and taste as much as possible. Which really should be a standard behavior with all Chinese.
I would recommend booking a table (even on a Tuesday) as this is a favourite of many, many people in the area. The space is small but there are tables perfect for 4, 6 and 8 but any bigger than that your group will be split.
It has the very delicious London-​Chinese regular dishes of spiced cucumber salad, which is a must every time that you order.
They have a specialty of Chinese style ‘kebabs’ which are tasty and fatty and full of flavour but not my thing (if it is your thing they are small so don’t under order!). I think this place is particularly good at the vegetable based dishes such as the home-​style cabbage, fungus with pork and Aubergine etc. The big bowl of noodle and chicken bits stew/​soup thing (unsure what it is called) is sure to warm the cockles on a cold day!
They also have dumplings which, when soaked in the cabbage sauce, are sooooooo delicious. The vinegar and chili they have on the table are some of the best that I have found on chinese restaurant tables since living in London.
If you are a non sharer: shame on you. Don’t take up my table.
There is an alcohol list, unsure if it is BYO but it looks like it would…

Unassuming, small restaurant in the heart of Camberwell that was packed to the rafters, and for good reason. The Szechuan cuisine is a refreshing change from a lot of the Chinese restaurants that dominate London, packed with rich flavours. Highly recommend the homestyle aubergine, luxury noodles and dumplings.

Great great GREAT food at a tremendous value. It could be a bit larger (not the best for solo eaters and that’s how I went on my first visit) and service could be a tad more efficient. But I get it– it’s hard maintaining a small space when you’ve been lashed time and time again with «Best Cheap Eats» accolades in the city.
You will not go wrong with their dumplings, or the weird-​sounding Black Fungus dish (much tastier than it sounds). They really do serve provincial dishes that you probably have never tasted before, so it’s certainly worth a trek down to ol’ Camberwell to experience.
Try to book reservations!

I would prefer to give Silk Road a 3.5 star rating, but since that isn’t possible, a 4 star rating will just have to do.
Silk Road is Chinese restaurant featuring Szechuan/​Xinjiang cuisine. Therefore, you should know that the food is spicy! We came here with a few friends who weren’t prepared for the heat, and it was an uncomfortable dinner for them to say the least.
The highlights of the night were the luxury lamb noodles (the hand-​pulled noodles are out of this world) and the double cooked pork (amazing!!). The shishes were just OK because they were just small pieces of meat covered in cumin.
Silk Road is super good value for money (definitely less than £20 per head), and you can tell it’s a gem of Camberwell. Definitely book before you come here because the queue was out the door when we got to the restaurant.

I should start saying this place is a three for quality but a five for value!
The food is specific to a region of China and different to your mainstream places. There is loads of choice and what we had was good! Mostly a bit on the greasy side and not the best quality ingredients but still tasty. The speed at which they get the food out and the number they cater for makes me guess that they have most things pre made.
The restaurant is reasonable size and comprises of a bunch of benches for communal eating. The staff were much more attentive than usual Chinese restaurants and we weren’t made to leave as soon as the last morsal left our sticks (which was novel and nice!) I’d recommend booking as this place has recently been advertised in timeout and is very popular, but definitely a worth a trip to Camberwell… Especially for the barging basement price!

This place is fantastic. I had the medium plate chicken (which should more accurately be called the medium canoe chicken — it was gigantic!) while my wife had one of their vegetarian options. The belt noodle (which comes with the med plate chicken) is ridic — ours was literally a single noodle the size of a belt — if I thought it could withstand the light rain I would have worn it going home. Tasty nonetheless though.
My wife isn’t a big fan of Chinese food, but this place won her over with their extremely fragrant and flavourful dishes. We’re excited to go back.
Be warned, if you’re going with vegetarians there aren’t many options on the menu to choose from — but what you do choose you’ll most likely be happy with.

Delicious! And so cheap! This restaurant boasts food from the Western region of China — I must admit I’ve never seen Chinese food with potatoes in it before, so I’m not sure if that’s Western Chinese or just this restaurant’s version of amazing food, but it was amazing.
First of all, get the lamb skewers. Yes, they come with chunks of fat between the pieces of lamb, but they’re delicious too. Get at least two per person. I probably could’ve eaten ten of them, but luckily intelligence prevailed over gluttony, and I saved room for our other dishes as well.
The dumplings and «Big Plate Chicken» were also amazing. The BPC might have been more appropriately named Big Bowl Chicken, but I’m not complaining. You’ll get a huge bowl of broth with chicken, potatoes, veggies, and these super large noodles. It took all four of us to finish it off, so make sure you have an appetite.
I don’t find myself in Camberwell very often (actually, this was my first time), but when I do, I go to Silk Road. Hit it up.

Went with my flatmates tonight
Opinion 1:
‘You’d be hard pressed to find a better Xinjiang place than that in England, or Europe for that matter
My review will matter the most because it’s at the top and nobody on Unilocal reads past the first bit anyways’
Five stars
Opinion 2:
«I would give it four stars, but then, I have never been to a Xinjiang restaurant that I would give five stars to»
Opinion 3:
I’d say this is a solid dining option that I would definitely visit again and particularly want to try the boiled dumplings. I was expecting more of a halal Uyghur place as that is what I am used to when I think of Xinjiang food. (There is pork and alcohol on the menu… first world problems) They got the spiciness right but there isn’t any naan and the grilled lamb shishes were just so-​so
Four stars, could bump up to five if the dumplings prove to be legit.
Overall average: 4 ¹⁄₃ stars, rounded down to 4 stars
Historical note:
The history of Xinjiang is extremely complex– it only became a province of China in the late 19^th century and is inhabited by a majority who are non-​Han Chinese, most of whom are from central asian ethnic groups, and has a muslim majority. The food there uses a lot of lamb and other things that can be cooked on skewers, raisins, pilafs, cumin, and noodles. The food is a mix of mainly turkic/​indic cooking with some more typically East Asian cooking styles and ingredients

It’s quite difficult sometimes to find quality regional Chinese food in London. No I do not want your Kung Pao Chicken and Broccoli with Beef. Nor do I want your goddamn spring rolls. Give me something with more authenticy!
Silk Road has filled this void with Xinjiang food made with heart and soul. And best of all, they take reservations. You better do it too, because it gets packed.
My favorites:
Big Plate chicken, which is enough for 4 people and contains heaps of chicken, potato, belt noodles in a peppercorn broth
Lamb Shish noodles (cumin lamb with noodles)
TEP noodles (with a tomato and egg sauce)
Fried dumplings, skip the boiled and go for the fried
I know they sound mundane but trust me these sides go well with the noodles:
Aubergine
Cucumber with garlic
Bak Choi
Cabbage
Our last bill was £53 for 4 people, and we ordered all of this too. CASH ONLY by the way.
This place makes me so warm and happy, I’ll trek out to Camberwell any day to get quality food instead of settling for the greasy Chinese takeaway joint around the corner.

Nice authentic food at very good prices. Nothing fancy for presentation or décor but good service. Was voted one of the best cheap eats in the area by one of the big papers so quite popular. Wasn’t brave enough to try some of the more unusual dishes but thought the dumplings were v tasty.

Silk Road left me so bulbous, stained with chicken drippings, and oh so happy.
We started with a round trio of dumplings, and at £3 for about 8, this is the kind of good value dining, I can get down with.
Of course we had to have the big plate chicken, which come with the fattest carbiest noodles (I heartily approve), and they do a good job soaking up the slighty spicy but mostly sweet broth. The chicken is very bony, but I love working for the little nuggets of soya’d meat, but people with little people in tow might want to watch out for a stray shard or little rib bone in the craw.
The skewers come out deceptively hot, so don’t just cram that bespiced tripe into your facehole without doing some blowing or letting it rest. The tripe picks up the char and flavors well, and they’ll fill you up if you’re not careful. The lamb skewers are on a whole other level of flavor, though eat these while hot since that fat will conceal on you, and no one likes chewy fat (or maybe that’s a plus?).
Tsingtao should be your cooling beer of choice, and Silk Road is happy to keep you topped up. The homestyle aubergine is meh, and it doesn’t seem to have taken on much of the seasonings. The «Chinese leaf» dish is confusing, but great with a big bucket of rice the next day.
I think we all paid about £11 each, but I had enough food for two more meals after, so great value.
Definitely make a reservation, particularly for big groups.