Chinatown beyond dim sum: bakeries, supermarkets and late noodles

The best thing to do in Chinatown that is not dim sum is breakfast at Chinatown Bakery on Wardour Street: a bolo bao with roast pork, eaten walking. Chinatown is four or five streets, and most people only ever see the lanterns on Gerrard Street. Here is the rest of it, from the first bun of the morning to the last noodles of the night.

Bakeries and sweet things

Chinatown Bakery, 25 Wardour Street

Grab-and-go, and the best start to a Chinatown day. Order the bolo bao with roast pork, then a cocktail bun and a slice of pandan cake. If they are making taiyaki, the fish-shaped waffles, get one hot.

Arôme, 92 Shaftesbury Avenue

Arôme, the French-Asian bakery from Covent Garden, has a Chinatown branch on the corner of Macclesfield Street, next to De Hems. It is mostly takeaway and the first Arôme to do seasonal soft serve. Order the honey butter toast, a house favourite, and a soft serve if the sun is out.

The Eight, 68-70 Shaftesbury Avenue

A Hong Kong teahouse for when you want to sit down. Order the whipped volcano egg with curry and a pineapple bun.

The shopping

Chinatown is where London cooks shop. The Chinatown London guide lists the four we use:

• Loon Fung, Gerrard Street. The big one, with imports from Hong Kong, the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan, and a fresh fish counter. Buy your chilli oil, dried mushrooms and frozen dumplings here.
• SeeWoo, Lisle Street. Fresh, frozen and seasonal Chinese ingredients. The place for pak choi by the armful.
• Lo's Noodle Factory, 6 Dansey Place. Fresh ho fun and cheung fun sheets, sold in small amounts, plus dim sum to steam at home. Buy the ho fun and cook beef ho fun that night.
• C&R Deli, Rupert Court. Malaysian ingredients and snacks, opposite C&R Café. Pick up a jar of sambal for the cupboard.

Lunch and dinner

Street food for under a tenner

• Kung Fu Burger, 104 Shaftesbury Avenue. A takeaway counter doing filled buns, and one of the best meals in Chinatown for under a tenner. Order the shredded pork bun and the duck bun.
• Chinese Tapas House, 15 Little Newport Street. Jianbing from around £5, closer to £10 loaded. Order it with marinated pork belly and enoki.
• Jíxíang Baozi, 27 Newport Court. Takeaway only. Order the crispy oyster cake and eat it before you reach the corner.

Rasa Sayang, 5 Macclesfield Street

Malaysian, with walk-in seats on the ground floor and bookings for the rest. Order roti canai with curry, char kway teow and beef rendang, and nasi lemak if you want one plate that does everything.

Four Seasons, 23 Wardour Street

The roast duck that London argues about. Big groups are welcome, so bring one. Order the roast duck, stewed pork belly with vegetables and Chinese broccoli, and leave nothing.

Café TPT, 21 Wardour Street

A cha chaan teng, the Hong Kong café, with roast pork and char siu on rice, beef flank curry and chow mein. It is lunch in twenty minutes, at a price that leaves room for a bun.

Speedboat Bar, 30 Rupert Street

Thai, and very good, on the edge of Chinatown. Order the drunkard's noodles and the beef tongue and tendon curry, then go upstairs to the bar, which runs until 1am at weekends.

Late noodles

Chinatown is the best place in central London to eat after midnight, and Wardour Street is the late shift.

• Noodle & Beer, 27 Wardour Street. Sichuan, open until 4am. Order the braised beef short rib noodles, or the miso noodles if you have been drinking since six.
• Old Town 97, 19 Wardour Street. Big tables, closing around 4am. Order the stir-fried duck in black bean sauce and the fried udon with shredded duck.
• Lanzhou Noodle Bar, 33 Cranbourn Street. Just over the border, with hours to 5am on Friday and Saturday nights. Order beef brisket on noodles in soup.
• Good Friend, 14 Little Newport Street. Fried chicken, fried to order. Popcorn chicken with plum and chilli seasoning, eaten on the pavement.

And a drink

Behind a green door next to Dumplings' Legend on Gerrard Street, Opium runs cocktail bars over two floors with dim sum on the side, and stays open late. It is the obvious nightcap.

For the full list, The Infatuation keeps a Chinatown twenty. Our route: bun on Wardour Street at ten, shopping on Gerrard Street at eleven, duck at Four Seasons for lunch, and noodles at 2am if you are still standing.