Chinatown, London

Dense, colourful, layered. Paper lanterns, roast ducks in windows, signs in two languages, tourists looking at menus, restaurant workers on cigarette breaks. The contrast between the decorative and the functional is everywhere.

Best time: lunchtime and early evening. Chinese New Year if you can get there.

Look for: the gap between the theatrical (the lanterns, the gates) and the mundane (the delivery driver, the bored cashier).