I HAVE MOVED MY BLOG TO WWW.WORLDFOODIEGUIDE.COM. PLEASE READ THE REST OF THIS POST THERE. IT’S EASIER TO NAVIGATE THE NEW BLOG AND THERE IS NEW CONTENT THERE TOO! THANKS! HELEN YUET LING PANG
During this week of revisiting London restaurants, I went back to Royal China on Baker Street after a long absence of nine months (read previous review here). I’ve always thought that the dim sum here was of high quality, but yesterday’s lunch was somewhat disappointing, to the extent that I’ve downgraded it from an 8 to a 7. It might have been an off day, but somehow I don’t think so.
Firstly, the presentation used to be of a high standard at Royal China. Yesterday, I might as well have been in Chinatown. The dim sum was barely worth photographing, and if I hadn’t been starving, I wouldn’t have eaten as much as I did. Taste-wise, the prawn dumplings (£2.85) and prawn and chive dumplings (£2.85) were alright, as was the prawn cheung fun (£3.20), but the steamed pork spare ribs in black bean sauce (£2.40) was so pale, tasteless and fatty that I was tempted to send it back.
I did like the sesame paper prawn rolls (£2.85) though. At least vegetarian husband found things on the menu that he really liked - fried noodles with vegetables, braised tofu with mushrooms (£7.80), vegetarian dumplings (£2.40) and fried vegetarian beancurd rolls (£2.40).
The verdict?
‘Alright’ isn’t what you’d expect from Royal China though. Their prices are higher than in Chinatown, but I couldn’t see the difference yesterday. Dim sum is such a specialist area that a change of dim sum chef can affect the quality of food at a restaurant, and word spreads fast amongst the local Chinese community when this happens. Whenever my uncle hears that a certain chef has moved to another restaurant, we always think the original restaurant will suffer. Maybe that’s what has happened at the Baker Street branch at least. I can’t speak for the other ones of course. I like the Canary Wharf location though, so I’m going to give Royal China one more try when it gets warmer, and have some dim sum by the Thames.
For traditional dim sum, my favourites are Pearl Liang and Imperial China. For more expensive modern dim sum, go to Yauatcha, Hakkasan or Shanghai Blues.
10 - Perfection, 9.5 - Sensational, 9 - Outstanding, 8.5 - Superb,
8 - Excellent, 7.5 - Very good, 7 - Good, 6.5 - Above Average, 6 - Average
Contact Details:
Royal China
24-26 Baker Street
London W1U 3BZ
Tel: 020 7487 4688
Royal China
30 Westferry Circus
Canary Wharf
London E14 8RR
Tel: 020 7719 0888
www.royalchinagroup.co.uk
