Some dishes at Speedboat Bar in London's Chinatown, where new restaurants represent cuisines from across East and Southeast Asia. Photo: Nic Crilly-Hargrave.

Speedboat Bar - named after the turbo-powered long-tail boats that ply Bangkok's rivers and canals - aims to bring a taste of the Thai capital's Yaowarat Road to London's Chinatown. Bright red stools line the outdoor dining area, while the interior is a mix of colour and pattern; the menu is Thai-Chinese.

The staff are young and smiling in Hawaiian shirts or soccer jerseys, and the upstairs bar has TV screens showing Muay Thai matches and boat races.

At lunchtime, Speedboat Bar is packed with Londoners, tourists from Asia and many European countries who come to sip Singha beers and enjoy dishes such as fried sweet corn with sweet and sour sauce, pickled cabbage with Chinese sausage, minced beef with basil and crispy pork curry.

The only dessert was a crispy pineapple cake inspired by those found in Thai 7-Elevens.

Inside the Speedboat Bar on Rupert Street in Chinatown, London. Photo: Speedboat Bar

The atmosphere at Speedboat Bar will be really bustling at night with music playing, and diners can enjoy the night menu with whisky between 23:00 and 00:30 the next morning.

Another buzzing night spot is Pochawa Grill on adjacent Wardour Street, where diners can enjoy delicious Korean barbecue under neon lights. Across the street, chef Jeff Tan of Hakkasan Chinese restaurant serves modern Vietnamese street food in a stylish, dark setting.

The elegantly designed YiQi Pan Asian Cuisine restaurant on nearby Lisle Street specializes in Southeast Asian cuisines such as Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai and Indonesian.

Another popular new Chinese establishment is Kung Fu Noodle on the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue and Wardour Street. Every day at lunchtime, long queues form outside for their hand-pulled noodles – especially the Lanzhou beef noodles.

Restaurants specialising in Asian desserts are also popping up, especially on Newport Court, dubbed “Dessert Alley”. Standouts include Japanese bakery Kova, with its exquisitely presented cakes, and Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream, which features ube bilog – a milk bread roll filled with Filipino purple yam ice cream.

Next to the Chinatown gate on Wardour Street, the humble Café TPT serves dai pai dong – Hong Kong (China) street stalls – to its loyal customers.

Around the corner from Gerrard Street, in the heart of Chinatown, are Dumplings' Legend and Plum Valley, two long-standing dim sum spots. Then there's Tao Tao Ju, a popular eatery on Lisle Street.

Grilled meat at The Eight on Shaftesbury Avenue. Photo: Stacie Ma

Visiting at noon on a weekday, the author saw scores of Chinese families patiently awaiting the opening of the Four Seasons on Gerrard Street, where the famous glistening roast ducks hang from the windows. A crowd gathered a few doors away outside the Lotus Garden Cantonese restaurant, with its pagoda-style roof and lions sitting as sentinels.

Newer restaurants include The Eight on Shaftsbury Avenue, a modern Hong Kong-style cafe, or cha chaan teng; Bun House on Lisle Street, a modern steamed dumpling restaurant; and dessert shop Bubblewrap on Wardour Street, which specializes in bubble waffles, a cone-shaped egg waffle filled with ice cream and toppings.

Street signs in both English and Chinese are scattered among the restaurants. You'll find businesses including Asian supermarkets and beauty salons.

The New Loon Moon Supermarket is located on the site of Turk's Head Tavern, where Samuel Johnson founded the Literary Club in 1764. Opposite, below the Taiwanese restaurant Leongs Legend is where Ronnie Scott first opened his famous jazz club.

This year, a plaque was unveiled to honour Hong Kong-born Chinese Kwai-Tsun Tse, who (who died in 2022) opened the SeeWoo supermarket on Lisle Street in 1975 and is credited with introducing many Chinese ingredients and flavours to Londoners.