THE ILLEGAL TRUTH BEHIND SOME OF OUR TOP RESTAURANTS

Half-a-million-pound fines. Repeated raids. And a secret underground world propping up the capital's most-hyped dining spots. Rachael Burford investigates

- Rachael Burford investigates

In mirrored sunglasses and a sleek black tracksuit, “Uncle Paul” stands in front of a camera, balances a plate of dumplings in each hand and dances outside his restaurant, Fei Er Cottage. He is making a reel.

In another, he declares undying love to the dumplings, declaring them the best in London. Uncle Paul is restaurant boss Paul Qiu, and his social nous has seen his dim sum restaurant garner more than four million likes and almost 100,000 followers across its TikTok and Instagram accounts. It’s some success for a restaurant that’s been there more than 30 years. It even featured as a set in the Keira Knightley spy thriller Black Doves.

But on a dreary evening in mid-December, the scene was much grimmer. Instead of influencers, it was immigration enforcement officers and interpreters making their way through the deep red basement dining room — not to film content, but to conduct a raid. In the kitchen, four of the eight staff working that evening — three men and one woman — were found to be working illegally.

One man is alleged to have entered the UK “clandestinely” in 2012 and was previously arrested in 2018 while working in another Chinese restaurant. He later absconded, and his asylum claim is still pending. This time, he claimed he worked in exchange for “a meal”. Another man, who in 2016 likewise arrived in the UK illegally, told officers: “I just went into the kitchen and asked for food — the chef told me to cut some veggies and he would give me some rice.”

Then there was the Chinese national who came to Britain on a student visa in 2024, limiting him to just 20 hours work a week during term time. But his payslips suggested he had worked more than 65 hours a week, above the legal limit of 48, and while he was being paid slightly above the £12.21 minimum wage, more than a third of his pay appeared to be withheld for “taxes” evidence uncovered by the Home Office shows