A cornucopia of delights can be found in London’s Chinatown (especially culinary ones) – find it on Gerrad street from the Leicester Square tube. There are loads of Cantonese and Szechuan restaurants, and a number of supermarkets selling exotic cooking ingredients (as well as staples such as noodles, oils and vegetables). Although almost always busy, Sunday in particular is a good day to visit, as the area comes alive with locals heading off for their weekly dim sum feasts. Among the other retail premises in Newport Place and Gerrard Street are craft and bookshops, along with outlets specialising in traditional Chinese medicine. 

It was during the late 18th century that the first Chinese settled in London employed by the East India Company on their ships.  With a small number eventually establishing a community around the docks at Limehouse, but in the 1950s  Chinatown (as we know it now) became firmly rooted in Soho. With the Limehouse area of East London largely destroyed by German bombers during WWII (and because of the decline of the laundry industry), London's Chinese population were forced to seek new jobs, as well as an alternative base from which to expand. Although it was a desperate situation for many families, their plight was helped (in no small part) by British soldiers who had returned from the war in the Far East with a new found appetite for Chinese cuisine. The area around Gerrard Street became popular with Chinese already in Britain, as well as new immigrants from Hong Kong. Recently Chinatown has been further transformed into a major tourist attraction by pedestrianising Gerrard Street and installing Chinese style street furniture (including the area's unique pagoda style telephone boxes). What's more, following the handover of Hong Kong to Communist China, this wonderful part of town has further expanded with a fresh wave of immigrants having now settled here.