Banquet 88, London E1: ‘Sweet, rich, fiery and moreish’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
Why This Matters
Key context: <p>I turn up solo and brace myself to be dumped by the cleaning supplies cupboard, but instead the staff treat me like an off-duty empress</p><p>Perched in between a <a href="https://www.zizzi.co.uk/italian-restaurants/greater-london/london/tower-hill">Zizzi</a>, a <a href="https://www.cote.co.uk/restaurant/st-katharine-docks?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=google+my+business">Côte</a> and a <a href="https://www.slugandlettuce.co.uk/bars/tower-bridge">Slug & Lettuce</a> at the far end of St Katharine Docks in Ye Olde Tower of London tourist-land, <a href="https://www.banquet88.com/">Banquet 88</a> feels like something of an enigmatic Asian cousin: it has a sedate frontage, sparse, functional decor with not an ounce of chintz nor an ounce of modernism, or even much of a nod towards comfort. There’s sake cherry foie gras and egg tofu with spicy pork floss and bottles of <a href="https://winesofchina.uk/products/magma-chardonnay-2021">Fei Tswei Magma chardonnay</a> from Ningxia on the menu, and a distinct dearth of spice bag chips and Mateus rosé, and they’d very much like you to bring a crowd to try the baby cabbage salad with Jinhua ham and century eggs or the Teochew-style poached fish with caviar.</p><p>With 140 seats and a second sizeable dining room upstairs, this Chinese mega-restaurant from <a href="https://www.goodfortuneclub.co.uk/">the Good Fortune Club group</a> is especially suited to parties of six or more who are in the market for black truffle abalone <em>siu mai</em>, Wagyu beef thousand-layer pastry, XO turnip cake and deep-fried <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taro">taro</a> croquettes with caviar. Then again, Banquet 88 seems very much more like a restaurant that’s waiting for the Chinese embassy to move into the Royal Mint across the road – Beijing bought the site for £255m – should those plans ever survive the courts. Perhaps then they’ll finally get to use the 50-person private dining room.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/nov/08/banquet-88-london-e1-grace-dent-restaurant-review">Continue reading...</a> This development from The Guardian highlights ongoing changes in the sector.
I turn up solo and brace myself to be dumped by the cleaning supplies cupboard, but instead the staff treat me like an off-duty empressPerched in between a Zizzi, a Côte and a Slug & Lettuce at the far end of St Katharine Docks in Ye Olde Tower of London tourist-land, Banquet 88 feels like something of an enigmatic Asian cousin: it has a sedate frontage, sparse, functional decor with not an ounce of chintz nor an ounce of modernism, or even much of a nod towards comfort. There’s sake cherry foie gras and egg tofu with spicy pork floss and bottles of Fei Tswei Magma chardonnay from Ningxia on the menu, and a distinct dearth of spice bag chips and Mateus rosé, and they’d very much like you to bring a crowd to try the baby cabbage salad with Jinhua ham and century eggs or the Teochew-style poached fish with caviar.With 140 seats and a second sizeable dining room upstairs, this Chinese mega-restaurant from the Good Fortune Club group is especially suited to parties of six or more who are in the market for black truffle abalone siu mai, Wagyu beef thousand-layer pastry, XO turnip cake and deep-fried taro croquettes with caviar. Then again, Banquet 88 seems very much more like a restaurant that’s waiting for the Chinese embassy to move into the Royal Mint across the road – Beijing bought the site for £255m – should those plans ever survive the courts. Perhaps then they’ll finally get to use the 50-person private dining room. Continue reading...
Curation & Context
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