North China Restaurant

Too often, suburban Chinese restaurants are showy, expensive and inauthentic; North China is none of these. Behind an attractive, curved-glass façade set back from Uxbridge Road, it's a seemly, compact place with peach-coloured walls and a tinkly piano soundtrack. Even midweek, smart-casual (non-Chinese) locals come here.

The cuisine of Beijing and its environs is the forte (including proper peking duck), though you need to ask for the specials menu. From this, the mix of three cold starters is recommended: smoked fish (sweet, meaty fillets); brawn-like jelly of pork; chilli-flecked glass-noodle salad with shredded chicken - a pleasurable balance of flavours and textures.