World Foodie Guide

Background:

I recently decided to update last year’s post on Where To Eat Dim Sum In London. As part of my project to visit and revisit some of London’s dim sum restaurants, I wrote a short post asking people What’s Your Favourite Dim Sum?. During a Twitter discussion on this subject, a Sunday dim sum trip was planned. So Helen from Food Stories, Chris from Cheese and Biscuits, Lizzie from Hollowlegs, Charmaine from tasty treats! and I trundled off to North Greenwich yesterday to Peninsula at the Holiday Inn Express. It’s Lizzie’s regular, and Charmaine has also been before, but it was my first time.

First impressions:

Lizzie had already warned us that it would be loud and noisy and full of Chinese diners. She was right, although it wasn’t quite as overwhelming as I expected, probably because the restaurant is huge (with 400 covers) and the tables are not packed next to each other. Peninsula doesn’t take reservations for dim sum, so we turned up at 11.30am when there were still quite a few empty tables available. By the time we left at just after 1pm however, a sizeable crowd had gathered by the entrance waiting to be seated.

What we ordered:

We let Lizzie take charge. At Peninsula, there is a dim sum menu with photos, but you have to tick items on a dim sum order form, which is in Chinese only. I’m not sure whether they have an English form (we weren’t offered one), but if you can’t read Chinese, you can order off the menu and the waiter will fill the form in for you.

• har gau (£2.30)

• siu mai (£2.20)

• beef balls with greens (£2.20)

• pork and prawn bean curd rolls (£2.20)

• steamed tripe with ginger & spring onions (£2.20)

• squid in satay sauce (£2.30)

• lor mai gai (glutinous rice with chicken) (£3.60)

• fried dough stick cheung fun (£3.00)

• prawn cheung fun (£3.70)

• char siu cheung fun (£3.00)

• turnip paste (£2.20)

• yam croquette (£2.20)

• roast pork puff pastries (£2.20)

• char siu bao (£2.20)

• spare ribs in black bean sauce (£2.20)

• paper wrapped prawns (£2.90)

• cold jellyfish (£6.50)

• egg tarts (£2.20)

• coconut mousse (£2.20)

• mango pudding (£2.20)

It does seem like an extremely long list now that I’ve written it up, but in order to satisfy five foodies, I suppose it was necessary and we did manage to finish nearly everything! Most items cost about £2.20, which is cheaper (and better quality) than most Chinatown establishments. Not everything was amazing, but I’ve found more and more that certain dim sum dishes are always better than others, and you really need to know what particular ones each restaurant makes best. And that you’ll only discover from regular trips…

For me, the paper wrapped prawns were excellent, as was the fried dough stick cheung fun. It’s hard to get the latter right, but Peninsula managed it. The fried dough stick inside the cheung fun should be crispy and fresh, as opposed to soggy and chewy. I also loved the jellyfish served with a mildly spicy sesame dressing.

The har gau wasn’t as good as they could have been, as the skins were a little sticky and the filling not so flavoursome. There also wasn’t enough char siu filling inside the char siu cheung fun, although the proportion of prawn to cheung fun in the prawn cheung fun was good. The char siu puff pastry lacked the beautiful glaze on the pastry and looked a little burnt when they arrived, although the filling was tasty. I’ve also had better mango puddings (this wasn’t as light and silky in texture) but by then, I was too full to care!

The verdict:

I think Peninsula is worth the trip for dim sum, and certainly thousands of Chinese diners every weekend seem to think so. They offer a wide selection of the classics, and a mistake here and there isn’t going to break the bank at an average of £2.20 a dish. It’s also a good choice for a family get-together and I think my relatives would like it (close to home, free parking, good value dim sum, what’s not to like?!). Dim sum is served daily until 16.45.

Dim sum cost £15.80 per person, including tea and service charge.

10 – Perfection, 9.5 – Sensational, 9 – Outstanding, 8.5 – Superb,
8 – Excellent, 7.5 – Very Good, 7 - Good, 6.5 - Above Average, 6 – Average

All the London restaurant reviews on World Foodie Guide

Contact details:
Peninsula
Holiday Inn Express
85 Bugsby’s Way
Greenwich
London SE10 OGD (it’s about a 15-20 minute walk from North Greenwich tube station)
Tel: 020 8269 1638
www.mychinesefood.co.uk

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Tags: Cantonese, Chinese, dim sum, dining out, food, restaurant review, restaurants, traveleating