London - Chinatown
Canton, Hunan, Sichhuan, Beijing and Peking food among the treasures
London's Chinatown restaurants serve food from all over China. It also is an historic part of London's West End.
Chinatown is situated in the heart of the city, just off Piccadilly Circus People come here for the fresh Chinese vegetables, the herbalist shops, fresh fish, kitchenware and china, oriental supermarkets and bakeries. They also come for the atmosphere. It feels Chinese - helped in this by Westminster City Council, the local authority responsible for Chinatown who provided the money for street signs in Chinese, as well as red and gold pagoda-style telephone boxes and large ceremonial gateways at each end of Gerrard Street - the main street in the area where there are are two large stone lions presented by the embassy of the People's Republic of China.
London's Chinatown - A Real Chinese Community
Even though London's Chinatown is small in comparison with other large cities, it hosts a real Chinese community . It is not just another stopover on the tourist route and there's much more to it than shopping and eating dim sum. It is a thriving and growing community, with cultural and sports associations, doctors, lawyers, discos, cinemas, music stores and bookshops and there's even a Chinese barber. It has its own newspaper, the Sing Tao and there's a Chinese language school run by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to ensure that the traditions of service and obedience survive transplantation to the West.
London's Chinatown - Chinese New Year
The Chinese New Year festival grows bigger each year and is an indication of the economic health of the community. It was started about twenty-five years ago by a group of young architectural students who persuaded local businessmen that the festival would bring more people, and consequently more trade, into the area. They were right.
London's Chinatown - Sample food from all over China
Although it is not the largest Chinatown in Britain (that's in Manchester) or the oldest (that's in Liverpool), it is still the financial and cultural centre for Britain's Chinese community, You can sample dishes from almost every region of China: Canton gives us dim sum, those delicious snacks that are served from lunchtime to late afternoon. There are spice dishes from Hunan and Sichhuan, and from Beijing, there's the famous Peking duck. Chinatown continues to prosper and it's a great place to explore and eat in some of the best ethnic restaurants in London.
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