Old China Hand

It's one of my favourite spots in London. I always stop there for a drink before heading to Sadler's Wells.
They have an amazing selection of British beers, whisky, gin...basically any British alcohol.
They don't serve the food but the stuff is absolutely happy for you to order something form the local restaurant/pizzeria.

Cute corner pub. Cosy wooden decor inside. Also space outside to catch the arvo sun (if any). Casual service, can take a while to get a drink of busy, they have so many craft beers I guess people just can't decide? There is also a dart board. Just saying.

My flatmate and her friends cluster here for their weekly drinks. Old China Hand is a very relaxed pub just off Oxmouth, and plenty of good people watching.

Beer selection is average (plus some Belgian stuff). but the inside seating area is well-arranged and very comfortable.

Ping pong table and dart board if you need some activity to get your socialness on.

Quite a cute little spot, just down the road from Sadler's Wells and Exmouth Market. Great selection of bottled beers (much, much, much nicer than your average pub) and nice ambience, as well as games and two pool tables. If you're into craft beer or real ale or Belgian beers, check this place out. The guy behind the bar was friendly and I enjoyed a delicious Cooper's Stout while my non-alcoholic friend had a classy soda.

Fun bar with lots of games, darts, table tennis, etc. good selection of craft beers from England and small batch spirits.
Personally I ordered an English made pastis (not the time of year I know), and I quite enjoyed it as we shot darts.
Also enjoyed a small batch gin (bartender recommended). Beers appeared good as well.
Definitely a place to come wile away an afternoon with games and good quality drinks.

Old China Hand


Stumbled upon this on Saturday after having wandered past The Eagle and decided it was a little bit too much for a light lunch. The bar at Moro seemed to fit the bill but we were a little early so a wander round the corner brought us to the Old China Hand. A most auspicious meeting!!


As others have mentioned this is a bit of a strange marriage with an extensive selection of bottled beers, decent larger and ale on tap, and a really tasty selection of dim sum at bargain prices - all housed in a cosy pub but not quite a pub setting. It worked for us but might not be to everyone's taste but I would really recommend a visit if you are in the area. In fact on reflection I will probably make a special trip across the river to give the menu a real run through.


Anyway, we had 3 prawn and chicken based dim sum and they were all skilfully executed and nicely presented - with 4 pieces per order this was plenty for two to snack over but we were now hitting our stride and shared a Malaysian chicken curry which seemed pretty authentic and was tasty but could have been a little more spicy for my taste. Nothing to complain about though and may just have been my somewhat jaded palate.


Prices are currently 50% off during the day so the average dim sum is about £2.40 which to my mind makes it an absolute bargain.


The bar was pretty full by the time we left, in the main couples of varying ages and origins. Staff are friendly and show a real pride in both the venue and the food.


The ping pong table at the back of the bar was the icing on the cake of a fine afternoon in Clerkenwell.

It was open until 1 am on a Sunday night. In London, that's all I need to know. Oh yeah, and they have great Belgian beers. I guess that's something else I needed to know.

Literally stumbled onto this one... however, I was quite intrigued by the place so we stopped in for a quick drink and to rest our feet. It wasn't super busy... it was also about 5 p.m., but there were some people sitting outside, there were some people at the bar, and then there were some people at the back playing ping pong.

The interior is interesting... a bit exotic, different from the average pub. They had an interesting variety of bottled beers, probably more interesting than the variety of beers they had on tap. I did have a half pint of the Mermaid... can't say it was the best ale I've had, but it wasn't half bad. The bartender was nice, the prices were reasonable, and because of its location I would imagine it would either be a nice place for a quiet drink, earlier in the evening, and then a great place for friends to get together and enjoy drinks, maybe some ping pong later in the evening after having dinner at one of the places across the street.

A nice little place to have a drink with a nice selection of belgian beers.

There is table tennis here, 2 tables I believe, with bat hire but even when the place is quiet, it's hard to play for more than 10-15 minutes as there are always people waiting and it's encouraged to share.

It's a dim sum pub with a varied menu of outstanding dim sum and a commendable selection of beer. I went there once with my wife and another couple. Prices are affordable too. What was particularly pleasing was that all the dim sums came in sets of four, perfect for each of us to sample everything we'd ordered. I've been to other dim sum restaurants in London where the orders come as threes (apparently the traditional way of serving dim sum), which resulted in having to do a bit of math to make sure all in my party would get ample portions.


The chef worked in Hong Kong kitchens for decades before coming to London to prepare dim sum for the Dorchester Hotel. His experience is evident in the quality food coming out of Old China Hand's kitchen. I like the feel of this place: low key but neat. The back dining area has a huge skylight that's quite pleasant. Old China Hand is a reliable restaurant to keep in mind.