Royal China (Chinese) – London, England (7/10)
Dec 9th, 2007 by admin
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. My post on Where To Eat Dim Sum In London might be useful too.
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:
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
Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide
Was at Royal China (Bayswater) last Sunday – 40 mins queue to get table at 11:30am…. really tempted to try Kam Tong down the road – rumours chef at Royal China club moved here. Kinda glad we waited in the end – really good staples – har kau/siu mai. Nice portion of deep fried squid with chilli and good portion of seafood ho fun (generous amount of prawns and scollops). Still have to agreed my favorite is Royal China (Canary Wharf)
miyagi-san – I hate queuing for dim sum, or any kind of food for that matter! I’m so irritable from hunger, and all I want to do is turn up to my reserved table and sit down and enjoy dim sum in a leisurely manner. I used to go to Royal China a lot but my favourite is Pearl Liang in Paddington, by far!
Helen Yuet Ling