ChineseTrafalgar Street
Lucky Star
Cheap, authentic Chinese hotpot, stick to the real menu
7.7/10
Local score
No. 56 of 300 places to eat on r/brighton, from 18 locals across 17 threads.
88% would send a mate. Still recommended in 2026.
A cheap, authentic Chinese spot at the bottom of Trafalgar Street, praised for its all-you-can-eat hotpot, hot and sour soup and cold chicken in spicy oil. Redditors note it's reliably full of Chinese diners (taken as a sign of authenticity) and repeatedly stress you should order from the Chinese menu rather than the Anglicised one.
- Go for
- Cheap authentic Chinese food and hotpot with mates
- Heads up
- Order from the Chinese menu, not the Anglicised one
What locals say
…my favourites: - China Garden: Only for the dimsum afternoon lunch, otherwise overpriced. - HK Place: not as fancy but the food there is always amazing. - Shaanxi Noodle Bar: The best hand-pulled noodles in brighton. Homemade dumplings and chinese burgers are amazing too. - Lucky Star or New Era: A better alternative to China Garden normal menu in my opinion. Their all you can eat hotpot is good value if you can eat a lot. - Mr Wang: hotpot as well but self portion sizes and cheaper. Bewared of how much you can eat before loading the basket as it can get expensive fast!! Hope you guys…
…get a fresh crab to put in there (unfortunately the crab is only one per table lol). They also have a great dan dan mian as a lunch special (quite spicy). The owner is from Shenyang and is super nice. The hot and sour soup and "mouth-watering" cold chicken in spicy oil at Lucky Star across from the Great Eastern are spot on. Mr. Wang Hot Pot near the station is a new entry and perfect for individualized hot pots (as opposed to sharing a communal pot), you pay by weight. Sea Spice on Preston Street has a super authentic, really spicy selection of dishes. Shaanxi on Preston Street…
…unless quite in advance Riddle & Finn - old guard now but still quality romantic seafood place(s) Coal Shed - cook cow well. Okinami - sushi done proper like Skint til payday: Soup noodles - apart from the new Daytona USA arcade machine this is the only reason to hit west st. Lucky Star Chinese - trafalgar street cheap and authentic. Great area for other options and pubs. Burger bro Pub grub Basketmakers - go for a drink even, lovely. Yeomans Prince George - veg food opposite lucky star see above. Thomas kemp - excellent grub 15min walk east of town centre. There’s a few that don’t…
…exhibition on at the museum at the moment if that’s your sort of thing. Hove museum has a nice little section on the area’s connections with the history of early film. Good cheap eats at: Pompoko (Japanese) Iydea (veggie) Scoop and Crumb (sausage sandwiches and ice cream) Lucky Star (Chinese) Interesting pubs: Fortune of War is on the seafront and it’s like a being in a ship Basketmakers is cosy The Pond does nice Vietnamese food and is near the station Having typed all this out ISTR this sub has all this sort of info in a sticky post or similar.
Ranked from 21,200 r/brighton comments. Summaries are written by AI from what locals said; quotes are word for word. Not affiliated with Reddit. Back to the guide