Our Story 故事 The Craft 工艺 Menu 菜单 Order Online 点餐 Book a Table 订座 Locations 门店 Careers 招聘 Group Mobility 内部调派 Franchise 加盟 Order Online
Cai Lin Ji counter with translucent red pagoda eave and hand-painted lanterns

中华老字号 · China Time-honored Brand

Wuhan's hot dry noodles, ninety-eight years in the making.

热 干 面 · 蔡 林 记

Since 1928, Cai Lin Ji has served the bowl that Wuhan wakes up to — alkaline noodles fanned dry overnight, blanched for fifteen seconds, and tossed through stone-milled black sesame paste. Now pulling that bowl in the UK.

Order Online Book a Table
1928Founded in Wuhan
五大名面One of China's five great noodles
15sIn the blanching basket
UKLondon · Manchester

Our Story · 品牌故事

Two trees
made a forest.

In 1928, Cai Mingwei and his wife opened a noodle stall at the mouth of Manchun Road in Hankou, Wuhan. Two large trees stood outside the door — 双木成林, two trees make a forest — so they named the shop 蔡林记, Cai Lin Ji, and wished the family business a canopy as wide.

“Ten silver dollars bought the sign — written by a calligrapher from Hankou Market, and it has hung over the shop ever since.”蔡林记 · 金字招牌

Cai Mingwei milled his own high-white flour with egg for spring, ground his own black sesame paste, and set a measure for every seasoning in the bowl. Wuhan took to it immediately. Today 热干面 stands with Shanxi knife-cut noodles, northern zhajiangmian, Sichuan dandanmian and Cantonese yifumian as one of China's 五大名面 — the five great noodles — and Cai Lin Ji is the name the city keeps returning to.

How it's made See the menu
Quatrefoil moon window and stone guardian lion in the Cai Lin Ji dining room
中华
老字号

The Craft · 一碗面的工艺

Four steps, no shortcuts.

Hot dry noodles are not boiled to order. The work happens the night before — which is exactly why so few places get them right.

01

Alkaline Dough

和 面

High-white flour worked with egg and a touch of alkali for bite and that unmistakable pale-gold colour. Rolled and cut to a round 1.8mm.

02

Fan & Oil

掸 面

Par-cooked, spread wide, brushed with sesame oil and fanned cool overnight. This is dan mian — the step that makes them dry.

03

Fifteen Seconds

烫 面

Into the basket, three lifts through rolling water, out. Longer and they slacken; shorter and they bite back.

04

The Toss

拌 面

Stone-milled black sesame paste loosened with sesame oil, then pickled radish, spring onion, chilli oil and soy — folded through in ten seconds flat.

Eat within four minutes of the toss. That is not a suggestion — it is how the bowl is designed.

Menu · 菜单

The Wuhan table.

Noodles first, then the rest of the breakfast street — doupi, fish soup, rice wine. Allergen information is available in shop and on request.

Prices in GBP, inclusive of VAT. A discretionary 12.5% service charge applies to dine-in tables of six or more.
Our kitchens handle sesame, gluten, soy, egg, peanut, shellfish and celery. We cannot guarantee an allergen-free environment.

Order Online · 在线点餐

Delivery & click-and-collect.

Pick your shop, then choose how you'd like it. Collection orders are ready in roughly twelve minutes — the noodles are tossed the moment you arrive at the 取餐口.

This prototype does not process payments. On the live site this step hands over to the ordering platform.

Or order through our partners

Deliveroo
30–45 min Uber Eats
25–40 min Just Eat
35–50 min Cai Lin Ji App
Collect & earn
Pick-up window beneath the China Time-honored Brand plaque

Collection counter — look for the 取餐口 sign under the red eave.

Reservations · 订座

Book a table.

Counter seats along the noodle bar are walk-in only — that's the best seat in the house and we keep it for whoever turns up. Everything else can be booked up to 30 days ahead.

Walk-ins

Bar and window counters held back every service. Join the queue in person.

Groups of 8+

Set menus from £26 per head. Email us and we'll build it around you.

Breakfast

过早 service from 7:30am weekdays. No booking needed before 10am.

Accessibility

Step-free entry and accessible WC at all UK sites. Tell us in the notes.

Locations · 门店

Find your bowl.

Every UK shop is built around the same three things: the open noodle counter, the red eave, and a stone lion by the door.

The Room · 空间

A teahouse courtyard, cut in acrylic.

Walnut joinery, rice-paper screens and a moon window, under a translucent red eave that glows like a lantern at night.

Entrance view with rice-paper screen, moon window and noodle counter
Entry · rice-paper screen & moon window
Translucent red pagoda eave with painted lanterns
飞檐 · the red eave
Stone guardian lion on a plinth beside a pebble planter
石狮 · guardian lion
Noodle bar counter with stools
面档 · the noodle bar

Careers · 招聘

Build the UK head office.

Cai Lin Ji (UK) Limited is establishing its UK head office to support the group's expansion into the UK market. Our UK team spans Finance, Human Resources, Design, Marketing, Logistics, Operations, Engineering, Information Technology, Quality Assurance, Procurement and R&D. The roles below are open to external applicants.

12Open roles
21Positions available
11Departments
LondonHead office base

Right to work

工作许可

All applicants must have, or be able to obtain, the right to work in the UK at the time of application. We are not currently able to sponsor a Skilled Worker or other work visa for these roles. You will be asked to provide original documents before any offer is confirmed.

Equal opportunities

平等机会

We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation, in line with the Equality Act 2010. Tell us about any adjustments you need for interview.

How to apply

申请方式

Send your CV and a short cover note stating which role you are applying for to cailinjiuk@gmail.com, quoting the role title and department in the subject line. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and we will be in touch within 10 working days if shortlisted.

Email your CV Applications: cailinjiuk@gmail.com

Group Mobility & Trainee Programme · 集团内部调派

Growing with our global team.

As part of our international expansion, a number of senior leadership and specialist roles — alongside a small number of trainee placements — are being established in the UK through internal transfer from the group's overseas offices, rather than through open recruitment.

Internal applicants only · 仅限集团内部 These positions are only available to existing employees of the Cai Lin Ji group who are being transferred or seconded to the UK under our internal group mobility arrangements. We do not accept applications for these roles from external candidates, recruitment agencies, or the general public. If you do not currently work for the Cai Lin Ji group, please see the Careers section above for roles that are open to external applicants.

Senior & specialist leadership

Filled through group secondment — internal transfer of existing group employees.

PositionDepartmentIndicative salary (p.a., FTE)

Graduate & trainee rotational programme

Rotational placements for existing group employees as part of our structured graduate development programme.

RotationDurationIndicative salary (p.a.)

Salaries shown are indicative minimums and may be higher depending on role and experience. All positions are subject to UK immigration requirements being met at the time of transfer.

Partnership · 加盟合作

Bring Cai Lin Ji
to your city.

We are selectively appointing franchise and master-franchise partners across the UK and Ireland. Partners receive the full 中华老字号 licence, the sauce and noodle supply chain, store design, and on-site training from Wuhan.

Proven format

60–110 sqm, counter-led, high-throughput breakfast to late.

Central supply

Sesame paste and noodle base produced to the 1928 specification.

Store design

Turnkey fit-out pack — the eave, the screens, the counter.

Training

Four-week programme, including two weeks with a Wuhan noodle master.

Indicative investment £180k–£280k per site depending on location and condition. This is not an offer of a franchise; full details are provided in the franchise disclosure pack.

Openings, specials, and the odd bowl of noodles.

One email a month. No more than that — we're busy fanning noodles.

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