Chinese tea tasting in Notting Hill

If you like Chinese tea and you spend time in London, then consider visiting The Chinese Tea Company on Portobello Road in Notting Hill. It's primarily a shop stocking many types of premium Chinese tea, but it also doubles up as a tea tasting class.

Owner, Juyan, shows the guests (six in our group) how to properly brew and drink various types of tea. Guests can also nibble on snacks and generally engage in conversation.

It won't be for everyone, but if you're interested in this type of stuff, then it's a great event. Juyan (pictured below) seemed very knowledgeable about any question we could think of regarding tea and was very friendly. Check out the pictures of the event!

Three different types of tea leaves.

Juyan handles a pu-erh (pu'er) tea cake.

Tea smelling...lift the cup and the aroma of the tea is held within the tall cup.

Address: 14 Portobello Green Arcade, 281 Portobello Road, London, W10 5TZ

Nearest Tube: Ladbroke Grove

Authentic Sichuan (Szechuan) Chinese food in South London

I recently went to Crystal China along Tower Bridge Road in south London. They specialise in spicy Sichuan (Szechuan) food and, judging by the amount of Chinese people in there (over 80 per cent of the diners appeared to be young Chinese people), it must have been authentic. Two of my fellow diners, both from mainland China, also thought the same and recommended it to me.

We ordered a hot pot and we could have whatever ingredients we wanted from a menu. We went for king prawns, lotus root, ham, fish balls, broccoli, tofu and beef. The base of the dish is basically a very spicy broth with lots of dried chilli and peppercorns, which bring a nice tingling and slightly numb feeling to the mouth (rather than the intense burn of some powerful chilli). The sesame dips and the rice we ordered helped counter some of the spiciness!

It was a great experience and so wonderfully different from most Chinese restaurants in the UK, which are mainly based on Cantonese food. 

Not sure about spicy food? They have a 'normal' menu too, judging by their online take away menu.

Address: 78-80 Tower Bridge Road, SE1 4TP

Nearest Tube: Elephant & Castle, Borough, Bermondsey