Since 1969, restaurant, hotel, travel & other witty reviews by a handpicked, worldwide team of discerning professionals—and your views, too.

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Aroma Restaurant Review

118 Shaftesbury Ave. Send to Phone
W1 London UK
020-7437 0370
Your Opinion
Add your own review

Cuisine

Open

Lunch & Dinner Mon.-Sat. noon-11:30 p.m., Sun. noon-10:30 p.m.

Features

  • Reservations suggested
  • Casual

* Click here for rating key

In many ways one is overburdened with choice of Chinese restaurants around Gerrard Street, but the quality of these establishments is variable, and price is not necessarily an indication. The original Aroma Restaurant is one of the better restaurants on Gerrard Street but the younger branch around the corner in Shaftesbury Avenue is rather the better of the two. The normal collection of set menus is available, but as ever they offer good value but hold little interest. Go deeper into the menu and you’ll find proper preparation and careful cooking. All the usual suspects are there: baked lobster with ginger and spring onion, platters of starters, crispy beef in garlic sauce, but there’s also an astonishing range of dishes not usually offered to the general public. Here they are prepared to make you a real shark’s fin soup, pig crackling with turnips and chives or baked quails with spicy salt and pepper. Service is professional and friendly, something almost unknown in Chinatown, and the restaurant is clean, comfortable and reasonably elegant, which is equally unusual. Set meals £13.50-£22.

User Ratings & Reviews for THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Aroma
 



RESTAURANT AWARDS

We just published the 2012 edition of our annual restaurant issue, featuring the Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S. and much more. Check it out!