Chef Luke Farrell’s strip-lit Plaza Khao Gaeng, a Thai diner inside Oxford Street’s Arcade Food Hall, was an instant hit. Speedboat, his follow-up, is inspired specifically by Bangkok’s Chinatown and stays open late. Singha beer is delivered in icy towers, which is good because plates of dry-fried pork feel designed to make guests sweat. After supper everyone heads upstairs for bright purple Margaritas (a result of blue-hued butterfly pea- flower tea mixed with citrus) for the making of a very fun Friday night.

The vibe here is explained by the fact that the brother-and-sister founders have a background in nightclubs. The music isn’t loud, but the place is always bustling, with a busy open kitchen dishing up flavours inspired by the fringes of the Mediterranean. Book a stool at the counter and kick dinner off with kubaneh, a pot-baked knotted Yemeni loaf served with silky tahini and tomato dips. Everything on the short menu is sensational – one of our favourite London restaurants since it opened in 2014.

Gelupo serves up rich, decadent hand-churned gelato in creative flavours like Salted Carmel & Toasted Corn and Honeycomb & Tomato. Skip dessert at sister restaurant Bocca di Lupo and trot across the street for a cone instead.

Everyone has their favourite Chinatown spot. We love the duck at Four Seasons, the sesame noodles from Nusa Dua and the skewers at Chuan Chuan Xiang. But in the thick of things is Er Mei – part of a wave of Sichuan restaurants changing the face of the neighbourhood. It’s smarter than some of the in-and- out cafés and serves excellent bowls of hot and sour soup as well as crispy kung pao king prawns.