Last Updated on August 3, 2026
Firing up Chinatown with Sichuan cuisine
4.3 out of 5.0 starsI’ve been frequenting Chinatown for decades since my early twenties, and I’m now in my mid-fifties. Over those years, I’ve garnered a few tried-and-trusted favourites, like the little place we take our family to on birthdays for soup dumplings. When Noodle and Beer, on Wadour Street, in Chinatown, came onto my radar, I jumped at the chance to try it.
The Soho branch of Noodle and Beer occupies a spot next to Rupert Court, a Georgian archway under which the Beatles were photographed in 1963, and where the first Pizza Express restaurant opened in 1965, bringing casual dining to the masses. With all this history, Noodle and Beer has a lot to live up to!
The restaurant specialises in Sichuan cuisine, from the Sichuan region of central China, just north-east of Burma. The telling spice of this cuisine is the hot Sichuan pepper, with its distinct nasal-cleansing quality, which features throughout the menu. You can spot these dishes, as they’re marked out with a chilli-pepper motif. So if you want something milder, steer clear of these!
Now, if you’re after a restaurant that’s going to serve up a selection of your usual favourites: sweet and sour chicken, spare ribs, beef in black bean sauce, a basket of prawn crackers, then Noodle and Beer isn’t for you.
For my starter, I chose British ox tongue with padron pepper pesto. The ox tongue was beautifully slow-cooked, so soft and tender, and complemented the gently spiced Padrón pepper pesto. I was less sure of the tortilla chips; that said, I wolfed these down.
Sam, my dining partner, opted for the chicken bites: soft, minced chicken, almost sausage-like in texture, wrapped in cornmeal and mixed spices. There was something so very comforting about these bites, a pure umami hit.
For drinks, I decided on a white wine, the 2015 Grace Wines Koshu Kayagatake, from Japan. I’d never tried a Japanese wine before, and this was light, balanced and very refreshing, perfect for a hot, humid London evening.
Sam went for a French red, the Syrah/Viognier ‘Le Campuget’, Château de Campuget, the only red served by the glass. This partnered well with her main course, the beef rendang noodles. Rendang is a dish from Indonesia, Southeast Asia, but we didn’t complain. This beef was pull-apart soft and fragrantly spiced and cooked in a coconut sauce, laid on a bed of thick, blanket-style noodles.
Me? I took on the Noodle and Beer challenge and ordered the Love It or Hate It noodles. My dish arrived: thick white noodles, laced with crispy chilli sauce, surrounded by thinly sliced cucumber and carrot batons. Dig into the noodles, and it’s what lies beneath that you will love or hate: a thick, egg-custardy sauce, century eggs (preserved eggs, sometimes called a thousand-year-old eggs) with hits of raw garlic. I think I should have added a portion of the minced chicken to accompany the dish.
I’m the sort of person who, when I find a restaurant and I find that dish, that’s what I will always have. I’m proud that I pushed myself and chose something that challenged my taste buds in a good way. Even though I’m undecided as to whether I loved or hated the dish, I think I’m veering towards love.
Had I decided to be less daring, I would have ordered the super king braised beef rib. A portion was swiftly whisked past us to the neighbouring table, and yes, I had a serious case of food envy. So much so that I’m heading back to Noodle and Beer, solely to have a bowl of beef rib and noodles.
Noodle and Beer
27 Wardour St
London
W1D 6PR
0208 2035893345
There are plenty more Chinese restaurants to check out on London Unattached. Here’s a link to Songhelou London – one worth exploring.
Leave a Reply