Royal China Club
Prawn cheung fun, honey roast pork puffs and sesame prawn rolls, scored 8.5 by The Infatuation. The Baker Street room served its last dim sum on 8 March 2026.12
Why go
Read this as a record of what closed. Royal China Club served its final lunch and dinner on 8 March 2026 after twenty years on Baker Street, and The Caterer reports the estate is being redeveloped (The Caterer). The group says it comes back in 2027 and has not said where.
This was Royal China Group's flagship and the expensive end of London dim sum, under Executive Chef Billy Wong. The group's own signature list ran to whole abalone, pan-fried king scallops with foie gras, chilli sea bass rolls, crispy lobster dumplings with herbs and garlic, and barbecued Peking duck (Royal China Group). SquareMeal ate the room's argument on a plate: fresh abalone tossed with caviar, a faultless roasted crispy Iberian pork belly, and soft-shell crab with salt and peppercorn that was well timed and well spiced (SquareMeal).
The dim sum carried the reputation and the price. The Infatuation scored it 8.5 and told you what to order: minced pork and shrimp dumplings, roasted pork buns, prawn cheung fun, sesame prawn rolls, honey roast pork puffs (The Infatuation). Time Out's older account is still the most exact one on the classic cheung fun, which came filled with dover sole and scallop, and on siu mai topped with pearls of salmon roe where a Chinatown kitchen uses diced carrot (Time Out).
The bill was the standing complaint. SquareMeal put a basket of eight seafood dim sum at GBP 22.80 and called it very steep. Harden's reporters priced the gap to the sibling directly, saying it felt like the same food as Royal China at about 30% more (Harden's).
Read the address carefully on anything you find about this place. Royal China Club was 40-42 Baker Street. Royal China is 24-26 Baker Street, forty metres away, still open, a different restaurant with a different record. The Infatuation reviews the two separately, at 8.5 and 8.4, and prints the postcode at the top of each.
Order this / avoid
- Order: past tense now. The prawn cheung fun, the honey roast pork puffs and the sesame prawn rolls were The Infatuation's order, and it called the classic cheung fun essential. The roasted crispy Iberian pork belly was SquareMeal's dish of the meal.
- Avoid: travelling to Baker Street for it. The room is gone, and the 2027 return has no address yet. Do not walk into 24-26 expecting this kitchen, unless that was the plan.
What locals & experts say
- Heidi Lauth Beasley, The Infatuation, scoring it 8.5:
Does this big old-school spot on Baker Street make some of the best dim sum and Cantonese food in London? We think so. It's an institution that plenty of people get a little misty-eyed about and the chilli oil or hoisin-stained white tablecloths can bring back all kinds of memories.
Her order endsplease note, the classic cheung fun is essential.
1 - Z He, co-founder of Bun House, asked for the best breakfast or brunch in London:
dim sum at the Royal China Club. Dim sum is breakfast.
She names the Club, which is why this one counts here.7 - Harden's survey reporters, on both halves of it:
Best dim sum I've had in a long time - everything was best-in-class
, againsteye-wateringly expensive, compared to the standard competition, if comparable to their Hakkasan/Yauatcha-peers.
4 - Time Out, 2013, unsigned, on what the money bought:
the signature cheung fun, which here comes filled with velvety dover sole and smooth pieces of scallop - all sitting in a puddle of sweet, smoky sauce. A quartet of siu mai (steamed pork dumplings) are topped not with a dice of carrot (as they would be in Chinatown), but with pearls of salmon roe, as you'd expect at the banqueting table.
6 - Three chefs name the other Royal China, and one says so outright. Santiago Lastra of KOL, James Lowe of Flor and Chet Sharma of BiBi all pick Royal China; our vote file records that Sharma "names the Baker Street site and distinguishes it from Royal China Club." Those votes stay on that restaurant.
Good to know
- Status: closed. Final service 8 March 2026, after twenty years, with the estate under redevelopment. The group says it returns in 2027 at a location it has not named.2
- Where it was: 40-42 Baker Street W1U 7AJ, by Baker Street station.
- The room: gold leaf on the ceiling and red lacquer on the walls after a four-month rebuild in summer 2018 that doubled its size and added five private dining rooms with natural light.3
- The other one: Royal China at 24-26 Baker Street is a separate restaurant from the same group and is still trading. The group also runs Royal China at Westferry Circus, Royal China Chinatown, Royal China Harrow-on-the-Hill and Royal China One in Brent.
- What belongs to 24-26 and not here: a 2024 Home Office illegal-working case that brought GBP 470,000 in fines. The Caterer states the accusations
related only to Royal China restaurant, 24-26 Baker Street, and there was no suggestion any other sites were involved.
2 - Hygiene, as it stood at the end: FSA rating 5, inspected 24 October 2025, Westminster, all three components at 5. FHRSID 413264.8
Verdict
could-visit — The Baker Street room is gone. Final service was 8 March 2026 after twenty years, the estate is being redeveloped, and the group says Royal China Club returns in 2027 at a location it has not named. What it was is worth writing down for whoever books the new one. This was the group's flagship and the premium end of London dim sum under Executive Chef Billy Wong: prawn cheung fun, honey roast pork puffs, sesame prawn rolls, roasted pork buns, fresh abalone tossed with caviar, and pan-fried scallop with foie gras. The Infatuation scored it 8.5 and Heidi Lauth Beasley's answer to whether it made some of the best dim sum in London was 'We think so', with the note that the classic cheung fun is essential. That cheung fun came filled with dover sole and scallop, and the siu mai carried salmon roe where a Chinatown kitchen uses diced carrot. The bill was the standing complaint: SquareMeal called GBP 22.80 for eight seafood dim sum very steep, and Harden's reporters put it at roughly 30% above the plainer Royal China across the road. Z He of Bun House picked it for breakfast and said the word Club, which matters here, because three other chefs in our records name that other restaurant.