Night 'Out' in Chinatown - Eat, Drink and be Merry Venue Information
Updated: Mar 8
PHOTORUN SUMMARY
The heart of London's West End entertainment area is Chinatown, nestling between Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Soho. It is an area of bright lights, delicious smells and Chinese culture lined with beautiful red hanging lanterns. This eat, drink and be merry Photorun explores all it has to offer.
This short 'Concierge styled' overview video is designed to give you a flavour of the area, whilst the rest of this blog is focused on providing you with guidance and a 'tasting menu.
Location of the Photorun
Eat, drink and be Merry Maps of Chinatown
Eat, Drink and be Merry Theme Suggestions
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USEFUL RESOURCES WHEN DOING THE PHOTORUN
The Google map and the summary video are useful to have open when doing these Photoruns. They will help you remember what the route looks like and prevent you from getting lost.
There is also a Google map showing some of the places where you can get breakfast.
Photorun at Speed - (1.5 mins)
This short video gives a quick overview of the route and the sights and then shows you what the route would look like if you were running it at 25 mph.
SUPPORTING PHOTORUN INFORMATION
Food Links
Nothing brings people together like good food, so where do you go in this part of London that will cater to your taste and pocket and provide the ambience you want?
The art of finding and recommending the perfect place to eat can be tricky as there is so much variety in London, and tastes and budgets vary widely. To try and get around this, I have provided the most common links to help you find, select and book eating venues – just add the location into the search.
Open Table London – They pride themselves in bringing together people and the restaurants they love in the moments that matter, giving you dining options, experiences, and offers.
The Fork – This is a Tripadvisor company that relies as much on its communities of users as its communities of restaurateurs. You can search on price, cuisine, rating, and special offers.
Hardens – This is probably the UK's most comprehensive independent restaurant guide, with reviews written by its members. It ranks each place by its food, services and ambience and has extensive search capabilities.
Design My Night This site is designed to help you discover and unlock secret, new and unique city experiences, from events to bars and restaurants, but it is also a site to help plan and book online. It has categories for restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, and 'what's on'.
Afternoon tea This is an Afternoon Tea guide to help you find the 'perfect venue for afternoon tea' in London and the UK. It provides descriptions, offers, booking facilities and an extensive search option.
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Drinking Locations
Google Maps of the Venues
Pubs
In and around Chinatown
The Imperial – 5 Leicester Street
Slug and Lettuce – (Sports bar and cocktails) – 5 Lisle Street
De Hems Dutch Café Bar – 11 Macclesfield Street
Waxy’s Little Sister – Irish bar Live music 20 Wardour Street
O’Neills 33-37 Wardour Street (live music and sports)
Waxy o’ Connor 14-16 RupertStreet
Near Soho
The French House – 49 Dean Street – serves beers in half pints
Golden Lion. 51 Dean Street
White Horse 45 Rupert Street
The Lyric Soho 37 Great Windmill Street – little Victorian pub
St James Tavern 45 Great Windmill Street
The Queen's Head Piccadilly – 15 Denman Street
In Leicester Square
Moon Under Water – JD Wetherspoon 28 Leicester Square
Joshua’s Tavern – Part of the Londoner 38 Leicester Square
All Bar One – 46 Leicester Square
Bars
Peony Bar @ Opium /Jade door Opium Bar – 15 Gerrard Street
Experimental Cocktail Club Chinatown 13a Gerrard Street
Ku Lounge 1 Newport street
Nearby Bars
Icon Balcony Bar – 5-6 Leicester Square _part of Empire Casino
LSQ Rooftop Hotel Indigo - 1 Leicester Square - cocktail bar and Kitchen
Heliot Cocktail Bar Hippodrome Leicester Square
Zoo Bar and Club – 13-17 Bear Streett – disco bar – 3.6 star
The Beau (Brummel) bar and restaurant – 3 Norris Streett -St James’s Market
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Things to do
Chinatown Theatres nearby
Leicester Square Theatre 6 Leicester Place
Sondheim Theatre 51 Shaftesbury Avenue
The Gielgud Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue
The Apollo Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue
Lyric Theatre 29 Shaftesbury Avenue
Piccadilly Theatre 16 Denman Street
Criterion Theatre 218 -223 Piccadilly
The Price of Wales Theatre Coventry Street
The Crystal Maze Live Experience – 22-32 Shaftesbury Avenue
The London Palladium 8 Argyll Street
The Comedy Store 5 Great Newport Street
BODY WORLDS London 1 Piccadilly Circus
Others
The Crystal Maze Live Experience – 22-32 Shaftesbury Avenue
The London Palladium 8 Argyll Street
The Comedy Store 5 Great Newport Street
BODY WORLDS London 1 Piccadilly Circus
Casinos nearby
Empire Casino 5-6 Leicester Square
The Hippodrome Casino Cranbourn Street
Grosvenor Casino – The Rialto – 3-4 Coventry Street
Cinema nearby
Cineworld Leicester Square – 5-6 Leicester Square
Vue Cinema London 3 Cranbourn Street Leicester Square
ODEON Luxe – 24-26 Leicester Square
ODEON Luxe West End – 38a Leicester Square
The Prince Charles Cinema – 7 Leicester Place
Picturehouse Central – Corner of Shaftesbury Avenue and Windmill Street
Curzon Soho 99 Shaftesbury Avenue
Churches near Chinatown
St Anne’s Church 55 Dean St - 17th century Soho Parish Church
Our lady of the Assumption & St Gregory The Presbytery, 10 Warwick Street
Church of Notre Dame de France RC 5 Leicester Place
Chinese Church in London – 166a Shaftesbury Ave
St Martin-in-the-Fields. Trafalgar Square
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London Eat Drink and Be Merry Themes
The British celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal once said:
"To me, food is as much about the occasion, the location and the company as it is about the taste."
And since Photoruns is about exploring new things, you could also be adventurous and try new ways to discover menu items that are outside your comfort zone but will grow your palate.
So here are a few Photorun 'occasion' ideas that may help your 'eat, drink and be merry' London quest. Please let me know which one you like or if you have better ones.
Breakfast Lotto
When you do a photorun, seek out some breakfast locations and number them. Then select one at random and try it out. You can even do this with items on the breakfast menu and let chance dictate your selection - or some of them.
Foodie Vows
This is based on the victorian rhyme that symbolises luck for a bride on her wedding day, but in this version, it is to do with food and drink. You can do this for a whole meal or at a location or venue.
Something Old – have the food and drink that you know you will like.
Something New – try something that is new to you and that you want to try
Something Borrower – taste or drink something you have been recommended to try
Something Blue - Select something spontaneously - out of the blue. It's best to have a trigger for spontaneity, like a specific colour.
Tipple Tours
There are so many pubs and bars in London that you can easily create your tour based upon your favourite tipple, for example, a Negroni, Whisky or Guinness tour. The aim is to select a drink type, investigate the venues, and then have your favourite tipple in each of them. An alternative is to try out the different variations in just one venue!
Around the World in 8 Hours.
Phileas Fogg is the protagonist in the 1872 Jules Verne novel "Around the World in Eighty Days", where he visited eleven nations to complete his adventure. The aim is to map an 'around the world' route and have something to eat or drink that comes (or is connected to) each of your destinations - in the proper order. Top marks if you match Phileas Fogg's eleven places.
Letters from London
The objective is to choose a letter, word or name and visit venues with the letter(s) in the correct order. Alternatively, you can select based on your menu and drink choices.
Horses for courses
As the name suggests, this is about discovering the best place for each course for your perfect meal - which could be three courses or more if you include the drinks before, during and after.
Groundhog Food Tours
This is a take on the film Groundhog Day, but this time it is about having your favourite menu item each day at different venues, so you can compare and contrast the same dish and then rank them.