Jen Cafe

We dined at Baozi Inn a couple nights before and saw Jen Café with two workers hand making the dumplings behind the window. We then wanted to try this out. Ordered 1 vegetable steamed dumpling (7 pieces), 1 pork and preserved vegetable soup noodles, 1 BBQ pork ramen, and a vegetable order of bok Choi. Overall we thought this was a good hearty meal that’s comfort food for the two of us on our holiday that love Asian food. This is definitely a place for local Asians to dine at as well as some other London locals looking for cheap Chinese food. Would recommend this place for a cheap eat and good alternative if you can’t get into Baozi Inn.
Note that the restaurant only has 5 or 6 tables so seating is limited!

Fresh dumplings all the time, and they are fantastic.
It’s a fast moving café and if you’re going to take your time, I wouldn’t really recommend coming here, it’s designed to be a place where you go in, order, eat and leave.
Being such a small place, it’s cash only, and be prepared for it. In terms of what you order, it’s dumplings all the way, order them fried, steamed or in soup, you can’t go wrong in my opinion. As for the other items, I’ve never had any.
Seating arrangement will seem a little strange to people, they will sit you at a table with other people if you’re a smallish group (tables fit 4 so if you’re a 3, you might get a random). It’s not that new a thing, and very common in Asia quick eat places. In fact it’s kinda like Wagamama without having the long tables. But you aren’t here for a long meal, you’re there to sit, eat some dumplings and head on to the rest of your day/​evening. For me, it’s a quick bite to eat before continuing with my real plans.

A bit overpriced, not too many vegetarian options, indifferent service … and really tasty dumplings!
Couldn’t find much on the menu that was vegetarian except the dumplings. They were flavorful and of perfect texture, especially the fried ones, but would definitely count as appetizer rather than a full meal. Vegetarians will probably want to go elsewhere. The shared sauces in the middle of the table were empty and often felt like the servers forgot about us (took a very long time to get my change back when paying the bill). Also, cash only!

Firstly I read reviews about this place and I knew what the best thing to come for here was — the dumplings. A clue is when you see a woman in the window making them. Don’t expect much in service, this is in the heart of Chinatown, but the dumplings are good. We got a batch steamed and fried and the fried ones were much tastier. Crispy exterior enhanced the flavour. Also had a chocolate bubbletea.

I love this place. I know the service is not great– the staff are often pushy and a bit annoying, even at their best– and I know the seating is a bit odd (getting sat next to strangers at the same table can be a bit weird!), but the dumplings? Well, they make up for everything. It’s wonderful watching people make dumplings from scratch in the window, and when you taste them, they’re even better. I actually think everything pork-​based from this place is amazing– at least, I have yet to try something I disliked. Wonderful assortment of teas, as well. The price is, of course, the real winner– you always leave feeling full and satisfied!

I was going to give this place 0 stars, as it is undeserving of any. However, it’s not allowing me to so I will give them 1 at most.
This is probably the worst place I’ve been to so far. All these positive reviews had left me dumbfounded because I thought that this place was terrible.
First of all, the staff were pushy and insistent. They kept putting pressure on us by rushing to ask us for our order, I could even go as far as to say they were badgering us. This is unwarranted behaviour, even if they were trying to get rid of their customers the fastest they can so that more can come in. The funny thing is, the place started clearing up and people stopped coming in after we had finished.
We were sitting down, browsing through the menu — and they didn’t even have the patience to wait for us to choose what we wanted. Not only that, they had problems with speaking English. I had told them that we were in the middle of deciding, and the person who was taking our order merely looked at us with disdain, as if she were irritated at the fact WE couldn’t get her to understand what we wanted. You’d expect the employees to have a decent understanding of English, seeing that most of their customers were English speakers or weren’t of Chinese descent. I would suggest that they brush up on their English speaking skills before serving people.
The food was atrocious. Maybe it’s because we chose the worst dishes on the menu (who knows?) but the fact remains that it put us off completely. The three food items that we ordered were of extremely poor quality that I would say generic Chinese buffet food is far better than what we had. We ordered Roast Duck with rice, Wonton soup and bubble tea. I can say this with certainty — that you are better off buying bubble tea elsewhere for (possibly) a cheaper price or a bit more for better quality. It is very mediocre. The Roast Duck meat tasted cheap, and most of the dish was made up of rice. As for the Wonton soup, that was the worst part of it all. It was incredibly bland. I’m sure I could’ve made something of that standard easily, by adding hot water and throwing some supermarket dumplings in (and even then, it most likely would’ve tasted better). The Wonton barely had anything in them and the amount given was little. Most of it was ‘soup’.
The place itself was very cramped and small — it was full when we dropped by and there were only four remaining seats. We sat with strangers, who didn’t seem pleased to sit with us. So bear in mind — if you are to ever come to this place, you will be placed next to a stranger if it’s too full. This isn’t a major problem.
Another thing that they forgot to add was that we couldn’t pay by card — it’s cash only. It was slightly inconvenient as we had to withdraw money from the bank and return.
I will not come back here — enough is enough, our luck must’ve been bad to pick out the worst from the menu or chances are the rest of the menu may be of the same quality. I’ll rephrase that and speak for myself — there may be dishes here that are worth having, but we never got any of those. I won’t be taking the risk to try out more for such prices, only to be dissatisfied (or beyond angry) again. Good luck to whoever comes here — there were red flags everywhere as soon as I came to this place. This café served food specific from a country — and I saw no natives there. It was already showing us that this place are for those who are unfamiliar with Chinese food — which are likely to be tourists and we weren’t part of that crowd. I’ve tried from many other places and from the country itself — and this is the poorest out of all the food places I’ve tried. Bad services, bad food and bad pricing — every reason that I can think of NOT to go back there.
Call this review extremely biased, exaggeration and slander — just remind me to never return here.
Again, good luck. Hope whoever comes will enjoy it here (more than we did, at the very least).

Venturing into (any)Chinatown is always a bit of gambling; you’re never quite sure what you’ll find. On the other hand; when in the hands of a local, knowledgeable guide it can really open your eyes for the hidden gems.
Thus before we arrived at Jen Café we had a brief stop at one of the Chinese supermarkets and got pointed out quite a few hidden spots for future reference.
The dumplings we had at Jen’s weren’t bad or anything but the dough was imho to thick and made what I consider a meal in the lighter end of the spectrum a quite heavy experience. The filling and taste was great, but the consistence didn’t do the trick for me — unfortunately.
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Disclaimer; this was a stop on a SoHo food safari-​thing, so the review may seem rather slim but we only had a few items.

The Beijing dumplings were not special at all like other Unilocalers were saying. We are from California USA and dumplings we tried were tasty and fresh with pillow soft skins. These were thick skinned and ordinary flavor. Also, it is un-​appetizing to eat on old, worn down plates and bowls.

I have been wanting to try this place for a while, so me and my friend finally popped inside for an impromptu lunch meet. The place is quite small and quite busy during lunch hour, but we managed to be seated straight away.
I ordered the soup noodles with roast duck — the soup was maybe a bit bland, but it wasn’t too bad when eaten with the roast duck which helped balance out the flavours. You can add extra soya sauce if needed. My friend ordered the hot and spicy pork noodles with sauce. The noodles looked homemade and were quite thick like udon noodles. We saw the table next to us having it so we ordered one ourselves, and it was simple but quite tasty.
We also shared a bowl of wanton soup. I think they use the same soup base for the noodles and dumplings as they taste the same.
We were too full to try their dumplings which are supposed to be pretty good, and you can also watch them making them by the window.
The food here is simple, tasty and cheap, and I would probably pop back in again soon.

Really delicious dumplings! Having spent a lot of time in San Francisco and New York Chinatowns, I would say that the Beijing dumplings are on par with some of my favorites from back home. The restaurant is a little touristy, but definitely less so than the rest of London Chinatown, and definitely better priced. Also, you can’t expect 5-​star service because that’s not the type of restaurant this is — it’s just a café!
For £5, I got a steaming bowl of 7 dumplings: the rich porky filling was light and well-​balanced by pungent ginger and scallions, with just the right chew to the skin. Dipped in some vinegar soy sauce, oh man! All washed down with a cool, refreshing, frothy pearl mint milk tea, and I feel like I’m back home. Can’t wait to come back! Cash only.

I dream of the Beijing dumplings. I do a happy dumpling dance everytime I go. The dumplings are fresh, fresh, fresh!

Cheap and tasty, don’t expect good service here. Get in, stuff your face and get out! But oh so good.
Have tried several things on their menu and the one thing I would always recommend is the fried dumplings. Pan fried crispy perfection on the outside with a thin dough and meaty filling in the middle. Selection of standard sauces on the table. Hands down best dumplings in London.
The roasted meats are not as good as other places in Chinatown so I would skip those. Get the fu xian ball soup though, it’s a great accompaniment to the dumplings.

Only had the boiled Beijing dumpling with chive and pork. Soooo good, great condiments to go with and made fresh to order.

Ordered octopus and lo mein. I asked the server for recommendations and found her to be causally indifferent. My octopus was rubbish (or just rubber) and the noodles were of the Cup o’ Noodles variety — truly. Conclusion? My fault. Should’ve ordered what everyone was saying on Unilocal: dumplings. They looked great on everyone else’s plate.

I only come here for their dumplings, they’re one of the best I’ve had in Chinatown. You’ll usually see a lady making dumplings by the window. Food here is very cheap however the service is absolutely awful. If you’re not too bothered about it then definitely try it out

I’m very picky about eating in Chinatown but Jen Café has won me over. We stopped for dinner here on a Tuesday night. Normally I see this place packed whenever I walk by but this time it was practically empty. Nevertheless we were still rushed a bit with the bill as soon as we had finished our meal. After reading Wendy L’s review apparently this is normal. But don’t let that stop you from coming here as the meal is worth it.
I ordered the Honey BBQ pork with rice and a mint milk tea. For the price I was happy with the portion, a lot of meat and a good amount of rice to go with it! The pork was delicious but the rice was dry and crunchy in some areas. My boyfriend had better luck with his rice dish; three delicious meats and well cooked rice. Perhaps mine was just a fluke.
Our drinks were very tasty. The tapioca pearls are fantastic! Extremely soft and perfectly sweet, out of all the pearls I’ve tried in London these are the closet in texture and taste to the ones I had in Taiwan. But we only got a few of them in our milk tea, I would have liked a lot more since they were so delicious! The fact that they have mint as a flavour of milk tea is awesome because I love mint and I love trying «unique» flavour options.
Cheap, satisfying, good bubble tea. I can’t wait to come back.

Jen Café is one of a few reasons I would ever go into Chinatown for chinese food. Firstly it is definitely a café, not fancy at all and service is very rushed and definitely do not expect manners as for most chinatown restaurants. It is like a chinese greasy spoons without the warm smile not even for a regular. But it is one of the places in London where I can forgive the restaurant for bad service as it is part of the experience if you’re planning to eat in Chinatown in the first place.
The café itself is very small, cheap metal tables and seats, plastic cutlery and plates, bright green walls and an ‘out of service’ sign always stuck on their toilet which makes it all very unwelcoming. But I like it and especially when they make the most fresh and delicious Beijing dumplings in London. And you should only come here for their dumplings and their popular variations of Bubble tea. Only use the other items on the menu as a stomach filler for the more hungry ones as the quality would not match the dumplings at all.
You can tell it’s fresh from the lady sitting facing the window making the dumplings in front of you as you walk by and there is a choice of either pork or vegetarian and then boiled or pan fried. I always go for the pork just because it is more fragrant and then a portion of it being pan-​fried for £6.00 and a portion of boiled for £5.00. They are like no other Beijing dumplings anywhere else in London. First of all they are made from glutinous rice flour rather than all-​purpose or plain flour. This provides a more lighter and softer pastry, more sticky which makes the dumplings more moist, making it a delight to eat. The filling is perfectly seasoned and flavoured well with chives and other ingredients. Flavours are definitely not lacking here.
Whether it is pan fried or boiled both varieties comes to you piping hot. Even though I always order both varieties I always preferred the boiled ones as it’s a fresher, cleaner taste, more squidgy and holds more of the pork stock inside. However I know many prefer the pan-​fried just for that smokey flavour and crispy base. Once it’s left on your table it’s to your customisation with the condiments on your table and the platelets given. The usual mix tends to be a spoonful of vinegar and half of that in soy sauce and then chilli oil to your preferred spice level. Of course you can keep adding each to get the flavour you want.
As a stomach filler I would recommend the noodle soup dishes to the rice dishes as I find their meat over rice a bit too greasy with fatty and poor in quality meat. I always go for their special which is shredded pork and pickled cabbage with rice noodles and make sure you ask for rice noodles or they will give you instant noodles instead. So the noodles aren’t the best quality, a bit plasticky but for the price of £5.50 I’m not complaining because it is the pork and pickled cabbage that flavours the broth making it very appetising and warming to the soul with the meaty, savoury and sour taste. You can always spice it up with the chilli oil on your table too.
Depending on what time you go it is always quite packed and yes service is very rushed and they will throw the bill at you straight after you finish your last bite so a bit of warning there. But with that in mind and a bit of openness you will find yourself having a very nice delicious, quick yet filling meal there. Definitely not a place for a romantic meal but for good quality, authentic Beijing dumplings.

Chinese canteen style. Squished against strangers. A simple look, even if slightly abrasive. But I love that part of the experience.
Jen’s Café, I believe, serves Beijing style food. You can usually see one of the few ladies who work there, rolling out and making fresh dumplings in the window. Arguably, this is what they are best known for. The vinegar and chilli oil are out and ready for your bundles of joy to be dunked in and savoured.
I often like a lighter dumpling and will order a bowl of steamed vegetarian Beijing dumplings. While enjoying them, I watched the fried dumplings go past. They’re not the deep-​fried within an inch of their lives like some places do it. Put lightly pan fried on one side, sharing the duality of chewy and crunching in one bite.
Oh, I had made a big mistake.
Recently, not intending to let them pass me by again, I ordered (and shared!) both steamed and fried dumplings. Good choice Jhenn. Good choice. I was also pleased to learn their vegetable soup option is vegetarian (no homemade noodles though). Although lacking in flavour, it was nothing the stacked-​high condiments couldn’t fix (helllooooooo chunky chilli oil!)
Overall, I really like Jen’s Café and love to take people there to share a plate of dumplings.

The prices here aren’t cheap for portions, but they’re decent, I guess.
My first Chinese meal that I had in London– still the best one.
I ordered the BBQ pork rice noodle soup and it was so delicious on a cold, rainy day. Add some hot sauce that’s on the table and you’ll be good to go. The fried dumplings also looked delicious. Noodle soup is around 5.50 — 6.50 and the dumplings are 6 pounds.
Service isn’t too great, you’ll have to flag down a waitress and they seem to rush you when it looks like you’ve finished eating. Also if you have an empty seat in your table, they’ll put a stranger in.

The best place to be about Dumplings.
How do you like Dumplings? with soup, fried,? You have the choice.
There are often a lot of people so if you can go there very early, do it!

Beijing dumplings are loaded with green onion, ginger, pork goodness; satisfying my dumpling fix until I get back to my beloved Dumpling House in Toronto.

Jen Café ist eins der kleinsten, geschäftigsten und günstigsten Restaurants in Londons Chinatown. Wofür es unter anderem bekannt ist, sieht man schon draußen beim Vorbeigehen: Durch ein Fenster neben der Eingangstür kann man oft eine Mitarbeiterin dabei beobachten, wie sie die so genannten Dumplings formt das sind Teigtaschen mit verschiedenen Füllungen, die gedämpft oder frittiert werden. Die Fotos in der Galerie zeigen die gedämpfte Version.
Ich hatte Char Siu Pork (siehe Foto) gegrilltes Schweinefleisch, das u. a. in Honig und Maltose mariniert wird, wodurch es neben dem Barbecue-​Aroma auch eine leicht süßliche Note hat (und appetitlich glänzt). Auch das mundete im Jen Café bestens.
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