New World serve a variety of Chinese dishes including Dim Sum, Cantonese and Provincial cuisine. Dim Sum trolleys trawl through the restaurant between 11am and 6pm, and a number of Dim Sum starters are available after 6pm. Catering for private parties of up to 200 guests is available upon request, and there are private banqueting rooms for both small and large parties.
New World Chinese Restaurant
7 / 10 from 21 reviews
1 Gerrard Place
Chinatown
London
W1D 5PA
020 7734 0677
Chinese
Chinatown
Maybe not the dim sum powerhouse it once was but the old-style trolley carts are still just about worth going for.
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All In London Review
The New World looks great but isn't quite matching the aesthetics with the food right now.
Located at the end of Gerrard Street, The New World is old school Cantonese. A multi-floored banqueting restaurant, it goes all the way with a décor that incorporates lanterns, gold and red colour scheme, grand statues and various other Hong Kong/Cantonese touches. It certainly looks the part. With separate kitchens covering dining rooms on different floors the service is swift.
The problems at The New World seem to begin and end with the food – a fact that’s not going to endear it to anyone, no matter how many Saturday mornings they spent here when they were growing up. The dim sum is particularly bad. While the presence of the trolleys is a traditional touch, it seems to be at the expense of what’s on board. Tepid, tough and dry is all that can be said for some of the dishes. Perhaps taking orders and serving straight from the kitchen could be a future alternative? We order Chinese greens and pork belly from the menu, a good call since the greens come out hot and steaming, with a rich oyster sauce and the pork comes crisp, fatty and salty – perfect. What’s not perfect is when the bill arrives at the end of the meal. Having managed to swallow down a few dim sum dishes (avoid the cha siu bao and siu mai!) and ordered only the pork and greens we expected a reasonable total. To our surprise, the pork belly was amongst the most expensive we’d ever seen and the greens were priced way beyond their quality even with some leeway for import.
Sadly, The New World is a shadow of its former self. The prices went up as the quality went down. Chinatown is full of quality establishments and though it’s a sad state of affairs to have to say goodbye to this old favourite, good bye it is…
Reviewed by T.A.O
Published on Oct 18, 2013
Best For
Mmmm: London's tastiest dim sum
We've put together a list of the best places to get your Dim Sum fix
Hong Kong is a killer place to eat up dim sum and some of the best places you’ll find are sat - rather strangely – in shopping malls. Think vast round tables, thick carpet and trolleys of dumplings wheeled to your table. The New World may not be plonked in a Westfield (thank God) but it’s still the place to find the appeal of traditional HK dim sum in London and an experience worth paying for. The soft red décor is dotted with gold detailing and there’s a level of service that beats most China Town establishments. Chicken feet dumplings are an interesting choice.
User Reviews
Sep 24, 2013
Prices are higher and yet food quality is down. The staff are fine but this place has unfortunately become a victim of its own success. It's still classy and I'll always love the dim sum trolleys but I'm no longer a regular.
Nov 17, 2012
Dec 30, 2011
With so many stickers there was no sticker showing their "Scores on the Doors" rating.
A restaurant rating system that gives the public some kind of idea as to the cleanliness and food hygiene levels of a restaurant or place where food is prepared. From Zero to 5 stars, 5 being the best, I don't think I've seen anywhere with less than 3 stars and I try not to eat anywhere with less than 4 stars....well, all that was about to change!!!
I took out my iPhone, went on the web and searched for the scores of our recently visited establishment to find a July 2011 grand score of ZERO stars!!! For a moment, I felt like Maggie from Little Britain having tasted the village marmalade.
To get a score of Zero, you have to be really, really, really bad!
More research into this place brought up (no pun intended) notices that it was closed down in 2010 due to mice infestation.
From now on, I won't risk going into a place before checking their scores first, it's not worth it.
Sep 20, 2011
from london
Jan 31, 2011
excellent with friendly staff always willing to help.
The dim sum trolley are excellent value and quality, a large selection were you can eat as little as possible or as much as possible. Do not order everything at the same time as it will get cold and the trolley do come around constantly.
Certainly recomended to everyone.
Name: luigi wegrzynek
Location: london
Aug 9, 2010
Mar 6, 2010
I am surprised when I hear that people have not enjoyed the food here...suspicious that they haven't a clue or haven't been or where expecting something a bit posher, not really interested in the food.
Feb 20, 2010
Feb 18, 2010
We would recommend it as an experience not to be missed if you're in London, especially at Chinese New Year
Geoff and Jane
Feb 1, 2010
Dec 22, 2009
Aug 27, 2009
We had a lovely lunch last week, the aromatic duck was very very good. Will go back to try more dishes soon !
Dec 16, 2008
This place is always a winner. The food is fresh. Best seats are (of course) in front of the kitchen - otherwise it can take a while to get served, so best to take something from every trolly that goes past. Vegetarians can order off the a la carte menu.
Personal favourites are the Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce and the rice noodles with prawns.
Dec 2, 2008
Spring rolls were overcooked. Dim sum nothing special (it's all bought frozen anyway, not made on the premises), and the Peking Duck served on a bed of prawn crackers, whereas lettuce may have been nice/appealing. The hot pepper sauce was off as was the chilli oil.
The waitress was pleasant enough but stood over us the whole time, removing dishes from right under us whilst we're still chewing the last piece of each dish. It wasn't that busy (Mon evening) but we felt they were rushing to get us out.
The bill wasn't itemised, it seemed a lot for what we'd had - jasmine tea, Peking duck and four dim sum dishes = £36.50. After putting down the correct money, the waitress, who'd been standing over us the whole time we got the money out, pointed out that service was not included and placed the saucer back on the table. I told her that was fine and we left.
Tip - don't EXPECT a tip from your customers, esp. if the food is not great, service is hurried and over-zealous and you're possibly over-charging them anyway.
We will not be going back.
Oct 29, 2008
Apr 28, 2008
Keep up the good work
Richard P
Feb 11, 2008
Feb 19, 2006
The food is always excellent, service friendly and efficient and prices incredibly cheap considering the West End location.
Invariably, the majority of diners is Chinese, which speaks for itself!
I wish I could get to London more frequently.
Nov 16, 2005
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