A hot little number, the Baozi Inn mini-chain was among the first to break the Cantonese stranglehold on Chinatown. These folksy looking trio of restaurants, related to the more upmarket Bar Shu, major in the flavours of regional China, especially the fiery cooking of Sichuan – though each branch has its own specialities. There’s no doubt you’ll get ‘proper’ Chinese food whichever you choose, witness the likes of cold ‘golden coin’ ox tripe, served as a starter at the Little Newport Street outlet (a tiny little townhouse formerly called Baiwei). If you’d prefer a less uncompromising introduction to the cuisine here, head for the mao cai hot-pot broths, into which you can drop up to 16 different ingredients to boil. The Romilly Street operation is where to order jiaozi (wontons), grills and ‘flaming skewers’, while Newport Court has more of a northern Chinese accent; don’t miss the house special baozi filled buns either, which are fluffy, soft and delectable.