If you arrive at China Tang in jeans and a t-shirt, you might as well go home and get changed. Tang isn't your usual Chinese restaurant. Sure, it's more than comfortable, the staff are typically attentive and the food is to die for, but it all comes with a lash of formality. The decor alone suggests so: beautifully contrasting dark wood furniture and enamel white table cloths, glossy marbled wall sections, and a light carpeted floor. It all smacks of the Orient, and effortlessly so, but there's a definite air of delicacy to China Tang. After all, it's situated in the Dorchester.

To match the exquisite appearance of China Tang, its menu lists dishes that could rival, and even surpass, the competition locally and overseas. Their duck is rightly known to be fantastic and the prawns, with their delicate crunch, are more than satisfying. Alternatively, you can bust the bank and opt for a whole suckling pig which comes in at £150 - great for a centre-piece and four or five of your friends to share. There's a fabulously popular - but steeply-priced - wine list available to accompany your meal, as well as classy and exotic cocktails.

You won't quite have to take out a second mortgage when you visit China Tang, but be prepared to spend nearly, or upwards of, £100 per head. Having said that, the experience is second to none. How often can you say you've eaten fantastic Chinese food at the back of one of London's most opulent hotels?

Opening Times: Monday - Friday: 11:00 - 15:30, Monday - Sunday: 17:30 - 24:00, Saturday - Sunday: 11:00 - 16:00