Last month I nipped down to London to see a gig. I had not been to London since I was a young child & as I have a healthy obsession for food my focus the next day was to seek out a good dining experience before getting the bus back to Scotland.

I headed for China Town & was delighted with the eatery that I came across and could not recommend the place higher for quality, taste, service & value.

The Young Cheng is a great refueling pit stop if you are ever in the vicinity.

The food certainly looked good from the other side of the window so I went in and got myself a plate.

The inside is very clean, with friendly staff. A bit bare & basic inside for decor, but it was the food I was there for and I rate this 10/10 for the food. Every single thing I tasted was fantastic. No thrills, no spills just good honest, well cooked chinese buffet experience.

I was also pleased with the ethics of this restaurant, as they displayed small notices requesting that people do not put more food on their plates than they could manage, but could go back to top up their plates as much as they wanted, but wasted food on the plates may incur extra charges. ( Great idea & very, very fair ).

They charge a bargain £5.90 per person, with a 10% service charge. So, £6.50 for a great meal & wonderful selection.

I gave a small tip on top of the service charge and I think the staff could see how happy I was with my luch. I still had several hours to waste so had a very thorough look around the Chinese supermarkets & checked out Soho & Carnaby Street ( now that was a disappointment ). I imagined Carnaby street to be buzzing with buskers & great retro clothes shopping, but I was bored of it within minutes & ended up having much more fun twisting round the side streets & ally ways  & found myself being drawn back into China Town. And also visited for the second time that day, a fab Chinese patisserie & stocked up on munchies for the journey home.

I found myself almost on the point of drooling at Young Cheng’s window , when I saw a delicious looking, sticky crab dish. Unable to resist I popped in and asked how much I could pay them to just try a crab claw ( I had not tried crab for ages ). I was recognised from lunchtime from one of the girls and was promptly asked to sit down & she asked a colleague to dish me up some crab. It was a sizeable plateful !

It was absolutely delicious, in a sweet ginger & chilli sticky sauce. Messy to eat but so worth it.

I offered them a £10 note when I had finished, & was told I had to pay nothing & was welcome to try the crab.

WOW. What a great place. Any time  I go back to London I will have to make re visiting this restaurant an absolute must. A wee gem of a place.