Young Cheng 羊城小廚 – London China Town (NOW CLOSED… SO SAD!!)

London’s China Town is fairly close to where I live, but every time I go I get fairly excited – even if it’s to shop for groceries or to eat out and meet a friend. So a few weeks ago – when an opportunity came and my mum said she would pay for lunch that day, I had to jump and say ok!

We went to Young Cheng 羊成小廚, which is a little restaurant in China Town. Its Chinese name literally means lamb-city-little-kitchen. I’m guessing the English name is derived from its Mandarin name, because in Cantonese it’s called “Yeung Sing”, in Mandarin it’s called “Yang Cheng”.

I’ve been to this restaurant ever since I was wee young lass (sorry for the Scottish phrase – but it sounds appropriate here ^^). Anyway, back to the food…

The original Young Cheng in Shaftesbury Avenue

I go to Young Cheng once in a blue moon, but every time I go the food is always great! ^^

There are 2 floors for dining. The ground floor is a bit small and you might end up dining with several other people at the same table – that’s traditional Chinese restaurant dining for you. So don’t be put off. The lower ground floor, which is where we sat, is slightly spacious – but sometimes that area is closed during the day time (I guess for cleaning etc…).

The lower ground floor dining area

Dining area

The menu

The condiments

If you go either at lunch time or dinner time (and if you’re lucky) you can get a free soup however this is not recommended for vegetarians! So be warned!

Free soup!

My mum and I ordered the same thing, which was the Shanghai noodles with shredded pork. I wanted to try something different – my usual is shredded pork with crispy noodles. ^^ This dish cost £5.50 – which is a reasonable price for Chinese food in London, but probably expensive for those not used to London prices.

Shanghai Noodles with Shredded Pork

The noodles are thick in this dish like udon noodles. The pork was shredded finely – very fresh pork… Yummy!
If you do plan to go here, get there early to get a seat! Otherwise there will be a wait…
If you don’t like set menus there is a buffet 陽城小菜館 opened by the same people just around the corner from this one on Whitcomb Street – just noticed there’s a different character used for Yeung.

Young Cheng Buffet 羊城小菜館 on Whitcomb Street

There’s also another one in Lisle Street, which is not a buffet.
And here’s China Town. Someone got in the way of my picture!

London China Town

My geeky rating: 5/5 – a bit of a biased rating since I always go to this restaurant, but the full marks is because they are always consistent with their service and food.

Good points:
Good service – and we always tip them!
Great food – hardly a fault there.
Free soup – but not recommended for vegetarians (there are loads of vegetarian options)

Bad points:
Seating could be better – like a noodle bar setting

Address:
Young Cheng (Shaftesbury Avenue), 76 Shaftesbury Avenue, Soho, London W1D 6ND
Tel: 0207 437 0237

View Larger Map

Update 11/06/2012

I finally took a picture of Young Cheng 羊城美食 on Lisle Street – looks like this one serves dim sum!

I finally took a picture of Young Cheng 羊城美食 on Lisle Street

Update 23/06/2012
These next pictures are actually from about a month ago. My friends (Miss Pinky and Mr Fly) wanted to know where I went to and wanted to try Young Cheng’s. We had a set menu for 4 people (when there was only three of us) plus an additional two dishes of roast duck and roast pork! We were all so full, and Miss Pinky took the rest home because we didn’t finish it all!!!