Very authentic taste if you know what to order. I walked in seeing everyone eating their chicken chow mein and it worried me a little. But we had not much option because most restaurants closes by 11pm. But damn it hits the spot. They will try to ask you to pay cash but don't fall for it, they have the contactless machine. Pickled veg fish - love. They have the mungbean noodle at the bottom. It soaked up all the soup so it tasted so good. Tbh the fish quality is pretty bad but it's only £23 for a biggggg pot. I'd compromise. Home style tofu - very flavorful. Great for a bowl of plain rice. Shredded potato - hint of sourness just like how we do it in China. Great stuff If you cannot take spicy, make sure you let them know. read more

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Mid night craving for some won ton soup and beef stir flat noodles. I must say it was delicious. Lots of beef was given! Very authentic. Thanks for open late and satisfied my cravings away from home. read more

Don't bother again. In London for a week and this place is difficult ANOTHER time. Only being cash if you want to eat. Ridiculous. Clowns. They don't even take American Express. Also they don't have ice for drinks read more

Far East - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

I had a really bad craving for red bean, so I came here early in the morning, not realizing that most shops in Chinatown were still closed, and would stay that way until 11am. As I walked around Chinatown, I saw that Far East was open, and lo and behold, at the front of their restaurant were glass displays of their baked goods, including red bean sesame balls and steamed red bean buns! It was glorious. In Mandarin, I asked the friendly proprietress if I could have 2 red bean sesame balls and 1 steamed bun. She happily sold them to me, and I gave them cash, since they only accept cash. Steamed bun was alright. I wish there was more red bean filling. The sesame balls were a treat! Great start to the morning to have freshly baked warm red bean treats! read more

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Wherever we travel, we always like to find the Chinatown if there is one. London has a beautiful one with pedestrian walkways and lots of restaurants. I chose Far East before we arrived which was good as it was freaking pouring out! The last thing I wanted was to start searching for food in a downpour. The place was relatively small and most tables were full which is always a good sign. We had a homemade wonton soup and some Singapore rice noodles. Both were very good. The soup was shareable but the noodles were a smaller portion than we are used to but still very tasty. Service was efficient. Give it a try for yourself. read more

This place is reasonably priced. We had a shredded pork porridge, fish ball noodle soup, fried bread, egg tart, shui mai and the shrimp dumpling with red bean mochi. The place is dark and very small but the food is fresh and yummy. Totally a cheaper place to shop and eat when on holiday. read more

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The absolute worst service in London! Staff was rude and food was served cold. Go to Dumplings legend nearby if it's open they have better food and service! read more

A big surprise. We couldn't decide where to go and just wanted to have a tiny soup and thought let's go in there. The service was great and everyone was friendly. We got ourselves ice tea with lemon and honey and it was so fresh and absolutely not some artificial drink. The soup we ordered was around 6 pounds and was so big! I was so sad that we discovered this great place at our very last day in London. As well I can guarantee this soup is by far the best I ever ate and had! So delicious. Such a nice cozy place. read more

Far East - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

This was the first meal we had in London, straight for Chinatown. There are many choices but we didn't feel like waiting in long lines and wanted to sit somewhere comfortably. They had menu outside and seemed like a good amount of variety. Appealing bakeries are on the left side upon entrance which drew many people in who just get the bakery for takeaway. Cash only if just buying bakery items. We had a party of 5 and didn't have to wait at all. There were customers there but it wasn't fully packed. Service was good and fairly prompt. We ordered Lo mein, soup noodles, rice in hot pot, curry beef, and something else. It was more of a dish per person rather than family style for us. The portions were average. Soup seemed bigger than I thought. Rice and others were average along with the price. I'd come back here again! I like the dark ambiance in this place. Seems more fancy than a typical quick eat place, lighting and decor is classy. read more

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If I'm after a cheap Chinese pastry in Chinatown, I do pop in here for a takeaway. To be honest, their restaurant section did look rather ummm basic However, the shop has just been given a makover. The refurbishment has given the interior a nice dark brown wooden theme with nice decorative accents with things like a large collection of traditional Chinese teapots To be honest with you, I hadn't been planning to eat here. The refurbishment had caught my eye and I was idly perusing the menu when in amongst the fairly short list of Chinese dishes, I saw char koay teow. If you've read my profile, you'll know that it's the dish I'd eat for my last supper. So, in I popped to give it a try Char koay teow is a Malaysian hawker (street) food dish where broad rice noodles are fried over a high heat together with variations of meat and seafood, beansprouts, chives and a mysterious black sauce that I have yet to reporduce accurately at home. The high heat chars the rice sticks and a good version is supr fragrant I'm not sure where this place does its booking but the visible kitchen at the back of the shop doesn't have any cooking facilities other than a microwave. To truly test the versatility of the kitchen, I also ordered some dim sum - a plate of Shanghai dumplings (xiao lung bao) When my plate of char koay teow arrived, the smell was promising but as I worked my way through the dish, it became clear that the main flavouring was soy sauce and it lacked the depth and authenticity of the true Malaysian street version. I even found a small piece of green pepper in it The xiao lung bao was reduced to a portion of 4 rather than the advertised 5 (they took a pound off the price) as they had run out. Unfortunately, the pastry was too thick and there was no soup inside the dumpling The service was very friendly throughout but I'm afraid the food didn't live up to the service I'll still pop back here for pastries though read more

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I was there with three other people. When the bill came, the waiter told us he could give us a discount if we could pay cash, but not with card... We wanted to split the bill and he said that he wanted to charge us 2£ more for splitting. We insisted and he let us split. Then, he COMPELLED US TO PAY THE SERVICE CHARGe. Dishonest. Ridiculous. I will never go there again. read more

It's not a bad place. I didn't like the steamed buns because it's mostly dough and had very little meat in it. The flavor is good though. Like most Chinese places the service can be improved. I always feel like they are trying to rush me. read more

Outstanding dumplings and sweet and sour chicken! The service is professional and courteous. And the price is very reasonable. As Americans stopping in for a quick bite, we were extremely pleased with our experience! read more

Even thought my feeling haven't changed my last review I felt it should be updated since that was almost 2 Years ago! Really love their chicken buns here! Their huge !!! And if you don't want to sit in they have a bakery section near the door were you can pick up a few bites to eat on the go! Today I did get that. I got one of their yummy sesame balls with red bean and their delicious sponge cakes. I love their sponge because it's just that, no cream , no special flavourings, just yummy eggy sponge! Yummy! I always stop by here when I'm in Chinatown it's my go-to! read more

Far East - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

Far East is one of many Chinese restaurants/bakeries along Chinatown. In fact, I'd probably have passed by this as usual except they had some fresh char siu steamed buns in the window and that happened to be exactly what we were craving. Upon further inspection, it turned out they have a host of fresh meat filled buns including a deep-fried number that sent Rob H over the moon in delight. No idea what it was called but it looked like a small dinosaur egg and was filled with ham and cheese (I think). Not the healthiest of food but damn tasty and a great snack for a couple of squids. read more

It's fine. Like most places in Chinatown, but only slightly better because their stuff is pretty cheap and some of it is actually flavorful. Bubble tea (iced): It's in a tall glass. The tapioca pearls were a little on the hard side and the darned straw was just slightly too small. It's not fit for purpose!!! Drinking it became a chore. The tea was very so-so. Egg fried rice: My date ordered this. It was quite flavorful, surprise of surprises! But as a good Chinese gal, I can't bring myself to order a giant plate of egg fried rice. Can't do it. Beef ho fun: I forget what it's called there, but that's what it is. Beef was tender, if a little beefy flavored in a negative way ('nah mean?). The noodles were pretty oily. I had my tea to cut the grease, luckily. Tasty, but too oily and too beefy. Egg tart: Not bad. Pretty big. I'd get it again. read more

One of few eateries in Chinatown to open before 11.00 daily. Having one's own chili sauce/oil creation is a point of pride and distinction amongst Hong Kong noodle houses; Far East has furthered that tradition. It's this that makes their wontons and brisket so much more appetising. The in-store bakery is a plus. Not only are buns and (forgive my description) deep fried baguette on offer, but also sweet cold tofu in syrup, a staple from my childhood. Food aside, the staff is far from professional so patience is warranted. read more

Oh no. I wrote a review recently in which I mentioned something along the lines of "when are [pork buns] not [good]?" Then I remembered a time when pork buns weren't good. I went to the Far East baked goods counter a while ago (quite a while ago) for some post-brunch snacks. Literally just after brunch. Hey, it's the Malaysian way lah. Ho fei. I remember buying: a pork bun with char siu in it, a ham sui gok (aka Dinosaur egg, a deep fried glutinous rice pastry filled with minced meat), and a ham chee peng (fried doughnut with glutinous rice in the centre and flavoured with 5 spice). All of these things are very dear to me. I think the ham sui gok was the best of them - not amazing (a bit greasy and a litttttle bit collapsy, like a neutron star), but solid. The ham chee peng was a bit disappointing - I didn't think it was spiced enough and again, it was a bit greasy. Then the pork buns. "A man without pork buns isn't a real man". Well. Not these ones. There's a really good rule of thumb to use when preparing meat products: don't put gone off meat in them. Even when you smother it in pork bun sauce, it's still reaaaally obvious - pork and chicken are the worst offenders in this regard. It's probably the only pork bun I never finished. Doubleplusungood. For some reason, I remember buying a second pork product, just to see. Same result. I'm all for not wasting food. Totally. But yeah. This was just a bit too much. It's a shame, because I loooove all these snacks so I really want to love this place, but I'm not going to be back after that experience. read more

This is by far the worst Chinese restaurant I have ever visited. First of all, unlike most traditional Chinese restaurants, they did not serve us tea. Second of all, most of the buns we ordered were cold, and tasted bad. The food was ok at best but it was very overpriced. Also, we asked for water and they gave us bottled water, and while we expected still water, they gave us 4 water bottles instead. We then asked if we could give back 3 of them because we only needed one bottle. But, the waiter said that she had already billed us and she could not change it! She was also very rude to us and constantly ignored us when we tried calling her over. Overall, terrible customer service. Would not recommend to anyone! If you ever have the unfortunate experience of coming to this restaurant, flip them off for me. read more

This place is great -- after midnight, that is. Cheap, good greasy Chinese in large quantities, and the other patrons are endlessly entertaining (read "often drunk and disorderly"). OK, so the food isn't the highest quality, I admit, but this seems to be the Chinese restaurant that's open the latest in Soho, which is a big deal in and of itself. Recommendation: avoid the duck halves, which can be somewhat old, and go for the battered duck slices (I forget the exact name, Crispy Duck?). Pair these with fried rice and you'll go home happier than hungry! read more

A smallish restaurant, more or less in the middle of one side of Chinatown's main drag I can't say I've eaten anything here, bar from the bakery and baoxi ( steamed bun) counter at the front of the establishment. Baoxi were serviceable ( meat and vegetable one was better than average, the chicken was odd, and I think the bakery products are made off-premises, but are fresh.) As with the other Chinese bakeries nearby, a great place to fill up for less than a fiver. read more

I really like the concept of this place, but the food itself from what I have tried is not spectacular. We saw all the bread and steamed bun from outside and thought it was a bakery, but it ended up being a cafe with a tiny corner of the section in the front for quick takeout and if you sit down, they provide you with a full menu and real food. At first i thought that if we only wanted to have buns they wouldn't let us sit down, but they did and they are super polite. We had two chicken buns and two bbq pork buns and a cup of milk tea. I had thought the steamed buns sitting in the steamy display case would keep them pretty hot, but they were barely lukewarm and they had to warm one of them up in the microwave. The buns were salty and not that good. The milk tea was probably the biggest disappointment. It was not hk styled and brewed properly, but a regular english tea bag with some milk and you add your own sugar. Similar but not at all -.- The total for the four buns and tea was a little more than £9 - not too bad for london i suppose. The service is fantastic - that's definitely something that will actually bring me back if im ever in need of a quick snack during grocery shopping. read more

Not a bad place at all. My mom and I ordered a bunch of dishes, which I guess got us funny looks, but when you live in Switzerland, decent Asian food of any kind if hard to come by - so we were trying to take advantage of the fact that Chinatown had some pretty good places. We ordered the you tiao and also a bowl (a HUGE bowl, it turned out) of tofu - I haven't had this in years, so it was really a treat. It was less sweet and not as watery as I'm used to, but that wasn't a big deal because I think it's more personal preference than anything wrong with the order. We also got one roasted pork (char siu) bun, which was all right but definitely more on the doughy than meaty side. I ordered the beef noodles but wasn't wow-ed by them: the beef was okay, but the noodles themselves didn't have a great texture and were on the thinner side for beef noodles. Service was good. read more

n.b. this is basically reviewing breakfast here. This is basically a bakery + greasy spoon, Asian style. Went to an overnight RA event for a 6AM booking and desperately needed breakfast. Partner wanted noodle soup which may have been not the best idea - it was good, but very seriously over MSG/salted. I had the congee, however, as everyone else in the place (this was like 0820, mind) was having the same. It was £3.20 of goodness - fermented bean curd and pickled vegetables and rice porridge- amazing. Loads of pork buns and other baked goods in the window. 4* for the congee 2* for the heart attack soup 3* overall read more

ENVIRONMENT Far East Restaurant feels part restaurant and also part Chinese pastry shop. One quarter of the shop is taken up by baked Chinese goods. They are placed in large open trays for display. This may be a little off-putting to some due to hygiene reasons but if you can get over the fact that the pastries are uncovered, you'll be in for a treat. Do note that the ambience is minimal and monotonous. Have never sat down and ate a proper meal before so cannot judge the actual restaurant bit. MUST EATS - Their specialities lie in their deep fried Chinese pastries popular amongst - South East Asian countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. - They are the best in Chinatown for yao char kuey (deep fried doughsticks) and ham chin peng (savoury pancakes) in many varieties. - They also have pretty good pau's (steamed bun with sweet or savoury filling). It is medium sized and has a decent amount of filling on a consistent basis. OTHER PROS - Generally pastries are authentic and delicious. - Quality is alright and matches the price you pay. - It costs on average GBP 1.20 per pastry. - Good service. Friendly, helpful and patient with non Chinese speaking customers. WATCH OUT FOR - The earlier you go for the pastries the better. I don't think they bring out a fresh batch in the afternoon. - Also it is cash only place. read more

Chinatown is a very different place after 3am, and when you are looking for somewhere to eat at that time you will be happy to see the florescent open sign at Far East, I know that we were!! So because of the time the experience was probably very different to most, but we still had a great time and meal there. The place was packed but they still seated us promptly and took our orders very quickly, pay upon ordering at this time which judging by the fight that the poor staff had to intervene in ( it wasn't us!!!) seems wise. We ordered lemon chicken, scallops and brocolli and Char Koay Teow. These all came really quickly and were all v delicious, the table favourite seemed to be the scallops which were good but I really loved the char Koay Teow also. Based on the price point (we paid £31 between the 3 of us for plenty of food, that we struggled to finish) I think they offer a lot here, and I would definitely recommend this place when wandering around town in want of a quick, cheap and cheerful meal. I definitely plan to go back at a more civilised hour to try out the pastries and buns that sadly don't make it to the early hours! read more

first bakery open before the others, so got one of the steamed buns (pork/cabbage), just a bit too doughy