Er Mei

Er Mei holds a special place in London's Chinatown as the first restaurant to bring proper Sichuan cooking to Lisle Street, long before the city's mala boom. Named after the sacred Sichuan mountain, it has kept a loyal following for its fiery, numbing dishes served in an unfussy, food-first room a step from the Chinatown gates.

As the pioneering Sichuan restaurant in Chinatown, it does the regional classics with conviction: dishes heavy with chilli, Sichuan pepper and chilli oil, from mapo tofu and gong bao chicken to whole fish and dry-fried green beans. It is spicier and more regional than the Cantonese kitchens around it, and remains a reliable stop for anyone chasing real heat.

What to expect from this Sichuan restaurant in Chinatown

Expect bold, tongue-tingling cooking: mapo tofu, gong bao chicken, twice-cooked pork, cumin lamb, dan dan noodles and plenty of chilli-oil-slicked plates, alongside milder options for the table. Portions are generous and prices fair. It is casual and busy rather than polished, which suits the punchy, share-everything style of the food.

The cooking and the setting

Er Mei's long run on Lisle Street has made it a Chinatown fixture for Sichuan food specifically, a useful alternative to the street's Cantonese mainstays. It sits near dim sum landmark Imperial China, with more of the area's tables in our Soho restaurants listings.

How a visit works

Er Mei serves lunch and dinner on Lisle Street, taking walk-ins and bookings; call ahead on 020 7734 8128 for groups. Menus are on its official site, and it is featured by Time Out.