Four Seasons Chinese

Four Seasons Chinese has been the resident Cantonese takeaway on the Stone end of London Road for long enough that several of its reviewers describe themselves as customers from the day it opened. The shop runs a fairly standard British-Chinese repertoire — chow mein, sweet and sour, curry, foo yung and a long set-meal list — but the way regulars describe it, the appeal is that orders are reliably ready at the quoted time and portions arrive consistent week to week, which on a London Road parade with several Chinese options nearby is enough to keep them coming back.

Like most of the older independents on the eastern Dartford strip the trading style is collection-led with a small delivery radius into Stone, Greenhithe and Bean, and the Food Standards Agency has given it a five-star hygiene rating, which the shop displays. Reviews are mixed — the long-standing fans contrast with a smaller pool of one-star complaints about portion shrinkage or dry curry on busy weekends — but the overall pattern is one of a working neighbourhood Chinese rather than a destination, which is exactly what its catchment is looking for. Open evenings only, and takeaway/delivery only.