Seasonal
Chinese New Year in London: The Best of It
London throws the biggest Lunar New Year party outside Asia. Here is how to do the Chinatown parade and the lion dancing properly, plus five Chinese tables worth booking for the occasion.
In short: our top picks are Chinatown and West End Lunar New Year Celebrations, Four Seasons and Plum Valley. 6 places in total, chosen on merit, with the full reasoning below.
London’s Lunar New Year is loud, crowded and genuinely worth the elbows. The 2026 parade falls on Sunday 22 February, ushering in the Year of the Horse, and by mid morning Charing Cross Road is a wall of lion dancers, drums and firecracker smoke. Most people watch for an hour, eat something forgettable from a stall, and leave. The better move is to treat the spectacle as a starter and book a proper table for the afternoon or evening. Chinatown does the roast duck and trolley dim sum it was built for, but some of the best Chinese cooking in town sits a short walk or a tube ride away. Below: the celebration itself, then five places we would actually return to, in and beyond Gerrard Street.
| Place | Area | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Chinatown and West End Lunar New Year Celebrations | Chinatown and Trafalgar Square | |
| Four Seasons | Chinatown | ££ |
| Plum Valley | Chinatown | ££ |
| Yauatcha Soho | Soho | £££ |
| A. Wong | Pimlico | ££££ |
| Hutong | London Bridge | ££££ |
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Editor’s choice
Chinatown and West End Lunar New Year Celebrations
Why we pick itThe lion and dragon procession sets off east of Trafalgar Square around 10am and weaves up to Wardour Street by late morning. Stand near the top of Charing Cross Road for the best of the drums and firecracker smoke, then let the Trafalgar Square stage and the eye-dotting ceremony carry the afternoon.
Parade and street festival
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Four Seasons
Why we pick itThe roast duck the Financial Times once called the best in the world, and the queue out the door says people agree. Order it over rice, get the skin while it is still glassy, and do not overthink the rest of the menu. A no-frills room doing one thing extraordinarily well.
Cantonese, roast duck
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Plum Valley
Why we pick itA family-run room that has held the same Gerrard Street site since the 1980s, with a black-fronted dining room smarter than most of its neighbours. Hand-folded dim sum runs from noon until late, so it works for a leisurely lunch after the parade or a later sit-down when the crowds thin.
Cantonese and dim sum
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Yauatcha Soho
Why we pick itAlan Yau's dim sum tea house, a few streets up from the parade route, where the prawn and lychee dumplings come as prettily as the patisserie counter upstairs. The blue-lit basement is the grown-up option when Chinatown feels like a scrum. Book the early sitting and linger over jasmine tea.
Dim sum tea house
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A. Wong
Why we pick itThe first Chinese restaurant outside Asia to hold two Michelin stars, and a short hop south of the West End crush. Andrew Wong's cooking travels across China's provinces with serious research behind it. Worth a Lunar New Year dinner if you want the occasion done with real precision rather than volume.
Modern regional Chinese, two Michelin stars
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Hutong
Why we pick itFiery Northern Chinese cooking and a celebrated Peking duck, served 33 floors up The Shard with the whole city laid out below. Ask for a window table at dusk and the skyline does half the work. A grander, quieter alternative to the Gerrard Street throng on the big weekend.
Northern Chinese, Peking duck
Before you book
The 2026 parade runs Sunday 22 February, roughly 10am to noon, from east of Trafalgar Square up Charing Cross Road into Chinatown, with Trafalgar Square stage performances and the eye-dotting ceremony carrying on until about 5.30pm. It is free and very busy. Book restaurants well ahead; the popular Chinatown rooms fill weeks before, and dim sum is best at lunch. Nearest tubes: Leicester Square and Charing Cross.
Common questions
What are the top picks in this guide?
Chinatown and West End Lunar New Year Celebrations is our editor's choice: The lion and dragon procession sets off east of Trafalgar Square around 10am and weaves up to Wardour Street by late morning. Stand near the top of Charing Cross Road for the best of the drums and firecracker smoke, then let the Trafalgar Square stage and the eye-dotting ceremony carry the afternoon. Chinatown and West End Lunar New Year Celebrations, Four Seasons and Plum Valley lead the guide, with 6 places in total, all chosen on merit.
How does Lamplit London choose its recommendations?
Every place is chosen on merit, after first-hand visits where possible, with no pay-for-placement. Read our full method at https://www.lamplitlondon.com/how-we-choose/.
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