China Cottage映月楼

Walk past the gift shops and tourist tat on Lake Road and you'll find yourself in a refreshingly no-nonsense Chinese restaurant where the owners clearly care more about the food than the Instagram potential. The dining room is straightforward—stripped-back décor, honest lighting—which means all the focus lands where it should: on what's coming out of the kitchen. You're looking at genuine Cantonese and Szechuan dishes executed with proper technique; the kind of place where regulars come back because consistency matters and shortcuts don't get a look-in. Prices sit at a sensible middle ground, so you're not paying London markups for decent Chinese food in the Lakes.