Chinatown: Jen Café

I'll say this right away: Jen Café is all about the jiaozi- the Beijing dumplings.

There's usually a lady at the front making fresh jiaozi (the lady under the window with yellow text)

Where?

Situated in Soho right at the beginning of Newport Place, Chinatown, the nearest tube station is Leicester Square. If you're around in Chinatown, look for the pagoda in the square at the end of Gerard Street or Lisle Street and you're there.

It felt a bit weird capturing this pic- usually there are loads of people sitting around it

What?

Like I said, you go here to eat dumplings. Reviews about this place are often pretty mixed when it comes to the service and the other food, but the view on Jen Café's freshly made pork and vegetarian dumplings (and their bubble tea) is unanimously positive. You can pick any other place in Chinatown to have decent noodles, rice and roasted meats, but if you want affordable, fresh and delicious dumplings boiled or fried, you go to Jen Café.

I had vegetarian fried dumplings. Eaten dipped in soy sauce and Chinese vinegar, these were beautifully crispy, pleasingly chewy and full of flavour

Concerning bubble tea, I always, always measure how good a café's bubble tea is by their taro bubble teas- it's my favourite bubble tea flavour. Taro is a type of purple yam, and since I like yams and I love unusually-coloured food, it's pretty much my perfect flavour. It was good but could have had a stronger flavour; I'd say the second-best taro bubble tea I've ever had. The first belongs to a place formerly known as Cafe de Hong Kong, now under the name of Longji, but I'll review that another time. It wasn't at all watery though, which is what I've found with the more disappointing bubble teas I've had.

Bubble tea: a tea, coffee, milky or fruity drink served hot or cold with sweet and chewy tapioca balls (which are the 'bubbles')

The menu isn't huge although it boasts a large range of drinks, but after all this is a café, not a restauraunt.

The service was alright- the ladies got our orders a bit confused but were pleasant enough, contrary to a review I've read where they described the staff as being 'contemptuous'. Not the slickest of systems, but one that works in the end- and certainly worth it for the bubble tea and jiaozi.