Haidilao Hot Pot

The kitchen runs to 2am and the doors stay open until three, which is the reason a table of six ends up here and not somewhere with better cooking.

Why go

John Li co-founded Dumpling Shack, Fen Noodles and Sichuan Fry, which means he cooks this food for a living, and when Trippin asked him for London's five best Sichuan rooms he put this one on the list: "My favourite place in London to take a group for spicy hotpot. Good quality ingredients and a fun experience. The butter spicy hotpot is a must get" (Trippin). Read that for what it says. It is a recommendation for an occasion, from someone who knows the field, and it is the reason this row exists rather than sitting on a list of chains.

Now the other half. Haidilao started in Sichuan in 1994 and this is its first European site, opened in 2019 on a 15-year lease over almost 10,000 square feet in the Trocadero, taken when the chain had roughly 310 stores worldwide (Inside Retail Asia). A group rolling out a format has to prove its edge rather than inherit one, and the proof is thin: no critic has written about this restaurant in seven years of trading, nothing in the kitchen belongs to this address rather than to the brand, and the menu does not change. What you are buying is the format, executed properly, very late.

Sites: the brand holds six UK food registrations. This row is Units 4 and 5, the Trocadero, 13 Coventry Street, W1D 7AB, marketed as Unit 4, 5 Coventry Street W1D 7DH. The other London dining room is at the O2 in Greenwich, and there are three delivery and production units plus a Birmingham branch. None of their inspections attaches to this row.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the butter spicy hot pot, on Li's word. Split the pot so half the table gets the numbing broth and half does not. Work the sauce bar properly, because the seasoning you build there is the only part of this meal you control.
• Avoid: coming as two people who want to hear each other. And avoid treating the star ratings printed on the brand's own pages as information; they are marketing, republished.

What locals & experts say

• John Li, co-founder of Dumpling Shack, Fen Noodles and Sichuan Fry, in Trippin's Sichuan guide, 18 October 2022: "My favourite place in London to take a group for spicy hotpot. Good quality ingredients and a fun experience. The butter spicy hotpot is a must get." The same guide prints the Coventry Street address, which is how the pick is tied to this premises rather than to the O2 branch. ref
• Savills, on the deal rather than the food, quoted when the lease was signed in July 2018: Haidilao "already has its sights set on expansion both in the UK and across Europe and we are very pleased to have secured this prime spot for its flagship restaurant." That is a property agent describing a rollout, and it is included because it is the honest frame for what this address is. ref
• Nobody has reviewed it. Harden's and Time Out have no page, SquareMeal carries a listing with no review text, and no named critic write-up surfaced on 1 August 2026. Seven years, ten thousand square feet, zero verdicts. Worth saying out loud rather than filling the gap with brand copy.

Jeff's take (his words)

Jeff saved this row with no note. His export Note is empty, so nothing here is attributed to him. The line on the master list came from an enrichment pass.

Good to know

• Where: Units 4 and 5, the Trocadero, 13 Coventry Street, W1D 7AB, between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. The brand markets the same door as Unit 4, 5 Coventry Street W1D 7DH.
• Timing: 11am to 3am every day, kitchen to 2am, per the brand-facing UK site. That site's official status could not be confirmed, so treat the hours as a claim worth checking on the day.
• Groups: SquareMeal files it under group dining for eight or more and bands it GBP 30 to 49 a head. Private booths.
• Hygiene: FSA rating 5, FHRSID 1098666, inspected 3 February 2025, Westminster. That is this premises only. ref
• Diet: vegan and halal-friendly options are advertised on the UK-facing brand site, and because that channel could not be confirmed as the venue's own, no dietary flag is recorded here. Ask before you rely on it.
• Michelin: no standing. Checked against the cached 2026 London list, which holds stars only.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

could-visit — Go for what it actually is, which is the best answer in the West End to a table of six wanting hot pot at midnight. John Li, who co-founded Dumpling Shack and Sichuan Fry and therefore cooks this food for a living, names it without hedging: 'My favourite place in London to take a group for spicy hotpot. Good quality ingredients and a fun experience. The butter spicy hotpot is a must get.' That is a practitioner pick, which sits high in the evidence order, and it is why this is not simply on the board. It does not climb further because of what the room is. Haidilao arrived in 2019 as roughly store number 310 of an internationally rolled-out format, on a 15-year lease over almost 10,000 square feet, and a group rolling out a format has to prove culinary edge rather than inherit a rung. The proof is not here. No critic has reviewed it in seven years, no technique or kit belongs to this address rather than to the brand manual, and the menu does not move. What is genuinely unmatched is the shape of the offer: doors open until 3am, the kitchen running to 2am, a split pot, a sauce bar and enough noise that a birthday works. That is a real use, honestly stated, and it is worth a rung.