Local Chinese named one of capital's top 15

Yet the Harrow dining room has been ranked alongside acclaimed West End establishments such as Yauatcha and Hakkasan as one of the top 15 oriental restaurants in London by Which?, in a guide to mark the start of the Chinese year of the rat.

The dim sum restaurant is probably the only one on the list where a meal for two leaves change from £40 but Which? describes it as "a neighbourhood restaurant with a national reputation" which "flies the flag for authentic Chinese food".

The guide praises the 200-dish menu for its authenticity and particularly recommends the Sunday "all-day dim sum extravaganza" with a selection that includes steamed stuffed baby squid in shrimp paste and fivespiced pork belly with Chinese turnip.

According to co-owner Yuk Ying Ho, the Golden Palace is "where the Chinese come to eat Chinese".

Mr Ho, 58, who opened the business with his wife in 1992, said: "When I came here in the Seventies, English people didn't know much about real Chinese food. You could never have put dim sum on the menu. But now people travel, they have less time to eat and nearly everyone is on a diet so dim sum is the perfect food. It's quick and light. At the weekend we get queues outside."

With three dim sum chefs and four normal cooks, all recruited from Hong Kong, the restaurant is renowned for its crystal prawn dumplings - fresh prawns, sourced daily from Billingsgate fish market, encased in paperthin steamed pastry.

Other specialities include roast pork puffs, deep fried shredded squid and duck's tongue in tangerine sauce.

Mr Ho, a father of three who lives in Harrow, said: "I know the owners of the famous Chinese restaurants in central London. I ate at Yauatcha by myself and even with a friend's discount the bill came to more than £70. You have to say they are good businessmen.

"But this is where Chinese people come. The only problem is that Chinese people don't book ahead like English people, they just turn up so that can cause problems. We had to double the size of the restaurant a couple of years ago to cope with the extra demand."

The 2008 Which? Good Food Guide London (£11.99) will be in the shops from 12 March or can be ordered online.