Reviews Le Chinois

We consider it the best Chinese food in London, the service is excellent , friendly,efficient and nothing is too much trouble. We have never had a bad meal there and we go quite often. Would highly recommend.

Must be about the 4th or 5th time I have been there for afternoon tea with a difference. Last time I tried some of their other food too and it was wonderful. Yesterday service was a little slow but the waiter gave us another glass of prosecco each and it wasn't as if we had an appointment! Will always go back as I do like it there

I was recently invited down by the lovely people at Joe Blogs to a bloggers’ afternoon tea at the Millennium Hotel in Knightsbridge. Those who know me well know that I’m not particularly a fan of cake, but when I was informed that Le Chinois at the Millennium Hotel offers a dim sum afternoon tea I was ridiculously excited. All the excitement of afternoon tea combined with my endless love for dim sum – what could be better?

The dim sum afternoon tea was created by the head chef at Le Chinois who was inspired by the popularity of the traditional afternoon tea. “Why,” thought he, “couldn’t there be a dim sum alternative?”

Sat in the luxurious surroundings of Millenium Hotel’s restaurant you’ll be greeted with a flute of chilled champagne to get the afternoon started in the correct way. But, as with any afternoon tea, the real excitement arrives when the food comes.

Forget sandwiches and tiny pastries, a dim sum afternoon tea will surprise you and put those taste buds of yours into overdrive!

Instead of the usual scones and Earl Grey, Le Chinois at the Millennium Hotel in Knightsbridge have created a dim sum afternoon tea; a combination of my two favourite kinds of meals!

Sitting down at the longest table I’ve ever sat at, sample plates of their afternoon tea started to arrive. There was Minced chicken in lettuce, Char Sui buns- these soft billowy buns have long been a favourite of mine-and some prawns and pineapple with a wasabi sauce. I’m not a fan of wasabi, it makes my nose itch, so I steered clear of these, looking longingly at the chunky fried prawns covered in the one sauce in the world that I dislike. Boo!

No dim sum session would be complete without Siu Mai, little parcels of steamed prawn dumplings. Next to arrive were crispy prawn wonton fans, Duck spring rolls, with Hoi Sin sauce on the side, and Hairy prawns- these are a mess, definitely no delicate way of tucking into these. There were also super tender beef skewers; a good addition to the prawn dominating menu.

For a sweet flavour, Red Bean Mochi with sticks of mango were served. Even though I know Mochi has a weird texture, I always stuff one into my mouth, because they look so cute. This had the very same odd silky texture!

If you're not familiar with din sum, this is a good spot to introduce yourself into it. My favourite char Sui buns and Siu mai are classic dishes, but I wasn't won over with the wasabi prawns! The tier if food is beautifully presented however. Le Chinois is on the 1st floor of the hotel, just walk up the winding steps by Reception and a mere stroll from Harrods. Combining dim sum and afternoon tea is a fab idea- away from the chaos of China town this is dim sum a little bit refined...

I have dined at Le Chinois for various reasons, friends' birthday, business lunch etc...and the experience has been absolutely amazing all around - from the service, food, interior, and atmosphere (although sometimes I picked the wrong date as it was often quiet on Mondays and Tuesdays). 
The service is always first class.  Our waiter CK is always fantastic - really friendly and patiently helped us navigate the menu and the most popular items.
Every dish was flavorful. Definitely not a Chinatown experience here, perfect fit in Knightsbrigde in between two trips to the Harrods and Harvey Nix

Everyday on my way to work, i'm teased on the bus by a daily passing of Sloane Street begging me to get the credit card out. Sadly my bank balance just doesn’t allow it. The Millenium Hotel sits next next to top designers, Gucci and Robert Cavalli. From the outside this hotel looks very dull. The decor inside is only a little better, and in much need of an update - especially the dining room.

Dining in a hotel restaurant is one of my favourite things at the moment, i think you can get more of an experience out of it. Waltzing in through the lobby, round some spiral staircases with art work across the walls, and then of course the restaurant itself. I also find the service to be much more polished. Le Chinois is clearly advertised on Sloane Street offering high quality chinese food, which won’t break the bank. It's the younger sibling of award winning restaurant Hua Ting in Singapore.

If you get a chance to dine at Le Chinois of an evening during the week, then book through Toptable for a 40% discount off your food. We sat down and were warmly welcomed by a very lovely (and very camp) restaurant manager, who couldn’t do enough for us. We toiled through the extensive menu and decided on a dim sum platter, which surprised us with including some vegetable spring rolls and sesame prawn toast. The dim sum was good, well flavoured with a prawn, and vegetable offering (though i’ve had much better). The spring rolls were crunchy and well filled, but nothing more than average. It was the delicate prawn toast which took us by surprise, quite delicious, and very fresh.

The star dish of probably the whole meal was the crispy soft shell crab tossed in a garlic, spring onion and a chilli flake dressing. The sauce itself was heavenly and beautifully balanced but the batter just made it. Barely a sign of oil in the dish, it was as crunchy as an ordinary batter, but with the lightness of tempura. There was plenty of crab meat and we were very close to ordering a second helping. One of my favourite examples of this dish in london, and certainly rivals the version at Hutong - though they are very different, with Hutong focusing on burnt chillies.

Mains were again good, but a little more varied. The sizzling venison which came serving on a cast iron plate had a sauce of ginger and spring onions. The flavour was good but perhaps venison wasn’t the right choice as it quickly became overcooked on a hot prolonged plate like this.

Singapore noodles were fantastic. Not too heavy on the heat, or the curry flavour but instead focusing on the ingredients in the dish such as succulent strips of chicken, juicy prawns, lots of vegetables and a good coating of sesame seeds. A perfect accompaniment to our food, but also a meal in its own.

Hungry? Read more - http://www.londonfoodaholic.co.uk/2014/01/le-chinois-sloane-street-review-knightsbridge.html

Service is good and possibly one of the best Chinese restaurants in Kensington. The Sichuan style chicken is really good, very flavoured. As a Chinese, I would say it’s a quite authentic Chinese restaurant.

We had the dim sum afternoon tea which came with a set menu and two glasses of prosecco along with tea of course. Service was great. The staff were very professional and friendly. Very informative and explained the dishes when it came out. The food came out so beautifully presented. Definitely Instagram worthy. Restaurant had a lot of natural lighting from the glass rooftop.

I was invited by Joes bloggers to visit the Le Chinois restaurant to sample their Dim Sum Afternoon tea, a concept that really intrigued me. Le Chinois is situated within the Millennium hotel in Knightbridge, in through the reception and up the stairs to a brightly lit restaurant. Now I have to admit I was a little disappointed to start with as rather than having the dishes served afternoon tea style shared between two, they all came out on large platters ready for everyone to dig in. This style of serving also meant that I didn’t get to try everything, I’m not sure the restaurant were prepared for the thirty-odd of us that were there. In particular I was disappointed to miss out on the crispy scallop rolls as I adore everything seafood. That said the food that I did try was mostly delicious! My favourite dish was definitely those crispy little chicken sticks; as Ed said, they were like posh KFC but even yummier! I’m pretty sure I ate more than my fair share but they were so moreish. The loser (for me) was the prawns coated with wasabi mayo. Given that I don’t like pineapple, hate mayo and am a bit of a sap when it comes to wasabi this wasn’t the dishes fault at all and others at the tea rated it their favourite! Dim Sum at Le Chinois is a great spin on the traditional afternoon tea concept and will definitely impress anyone who loves all things Chinese or has a savoury tooth. Personally I prefer something a bit sweeter and was really missing out on some scones!

Food was well presented and service was very good but the flavour was lacking and found some dishes overly salty.

The meal was fantastic! I had a really lovely time here, recommend to all looking for somewhere that little bit nicer