Dragon Castle, Elephant & Castle, London

There is rarely a distance too far when it comes to matters of the stomach, however I do not often find myself South of the Thames and Elephant and Castle is just not a pretty area of London. A photographer was arrested there in January for posing an "unacceptable security risk." As a known local Artist he had been photographing the evolution of the area for 25 years. Be warned. With this in mind, Dragon Palace roars with credible recommendations - Jay Rayner (2006), Giles Coren (2006), and most recently Time Out (2009). Even heralded as the best Dim Sum in London by some and the most enjoyable Cantonese food in London by others.



Dim Sum for two had turned into six and we had well over 25 dishes, so there was plenty for all. But the dim sum was forgettable. The few dishes that I have tended to judge any Dim Sum restaurant by were either standard or below par. Fried foods should be hot, crispy and fresh. Steamed dumplings should arrive steaming and burn the roof of my mouth off and their contents should be plump, bouncy and explode with flavour. The Wu Kok arrived only luke warm and what should've been a fluffy and crispy batter, whilst light, was flabby and soft. Like most Chinese food, I want it to arrive and burn the roof of my mouth off. Prawn, char siu and fried dough fritter cheong fun were again average. The noodle had sufficient bite but the fillings weren't outstanding. Cold chicken feet really don't do anything for me at the best of times. I do however love Fung Jau, which we didn't order. The beef hor fun with black bean sauce and green peppers was just too salty and portions of Char Siu Pork and Roast Duck were average again.



Dim Sum is about convivial times over great food and good conversation was had. But there are plenty of places in London that one can get Chinese food and with the invasion of sanitised and westernised versions like Ping Pong, standards of Dim Sum have arguably been challenged. Yauatcha is good but just too expensive and in a surrounding just too sterile for spilling tea and making that mess with your chilli oil and soy sauce. Royal China is ok. Leaving Pearl Liang as the most universally applauded Dim Sum venue in London. Wherever it may be, attentive and friendly service should not be at a premium, unfortunately the waiting staff had a real problem with bringing us water and being first to arrive the staff were notably shocked with disgust that I hadn't made a reservation for my expanded group. Twenty notes a head really is quite an outlay for Dim Sum but that's just an indication of overeating. So, is this a question of value or quality? Both, and Dragon Palace hasn't won me over on either this time.





Dragon Castle. 114 Walworth Road, London, SE17 1JL. Tel: 020 7277 3388

What to order at Dim Sum in a Chinese Restaurant

Being Chinese, I grew up with the weekly Sunday morning journey to China Town for Dim Sum. I love the tradition and ritual of going for Dim Sum. Perhaps it's also my parents background of being born in Malaysia, that I have inherits the traits of travelling miles across a city just to east one certain dish. After several attempts at introducing friends to Dim Sum I figured that I would write a little guide for my blog about Dim Sum or Yum Char as it also commonly known, how to eat it and perhaps what to expect.

Going for Dim Sum or Yum Char is a social occasion and best shared with loud friends (who can talk louder than surrounding din of shouting and chatter from every other table) and family. It is unfortunate that so many people these are particular and not flexible with their diets and this often conflicts with "ethnic" eating. Traditionally Dim sum is not great for vegetarians or those who don't eat pork or seafood. There's a lot of meat, and mostly pork and prawns in these dishes though some restaurants will offer a few vegetarian options.

A couple of tips:

• Arrive Early. If you don't like queuing, arrive early on weekends. It's more than likely that the restaurant you are going to will be busy if it is good or centrally located. There will be couples, families and big groups all dining at the same time as you, all wanting tables at the same time. So don't complain about having to queue.
  
• Drink Tea. Drink Tea with all Chinese food. Tea cleanses the palate. Fizzy drinks are too sweet, beer is too filling, and wine is not complementary at all.
• Use chopsticks. It's part of the fun. Use the chopsticks and the porcelain spoon. Even your fingers! But please, definately not knife and fork.

So now you've made it to the restaurant and with some luck you might go to one with a trolley service although most have abandoned this old tradition in favour of either forms that you fill in yourself or ordering direct from your waiter. If you do go to a restaurant that has a trolley service try to get a table as close to the kitchen as possible, and avoid being seated in a a side room, as you are more than likely to miss out on some trolleys.
What you might find on a menu...
A menu will most likely be broken down into several groups and so i have included my favourite varieties in some of them below.

Gau or Gow - Dumplings wrapped in a transcluent rice or wheat flour skin

• Har Gau - Whole prawn / minced prawn dumpling

• Siu Mai - small steamed dumplings with pork inside a thin wonton pastry topped with a crab roe

• Gee Bau Har - Minced or whole prawns wrapped in a rice sheet and deep fried. Sometimes mixed with a few whole fresh garden peas and served with sweet and sour sauce.
  

Bau - steamed or baked buns, often white and fluffy with meat and/or vegetable fillings

• Char Siu Bau - steamed to be fluffy and white buns filled with sticky cantonese barbecued
  

Cheong Fun - Rice noodle sheets that are steamed filled with a meat, seafood, vegetable or chinese dough fritter and then rolled.

• Har Cheong Fun - Prawn filled and served with a slightly sweetened Soy Sauce on the side or on top.
  

And then the other dishes...

Lor Mai Gai - Glutinous rice with egg yolk, dried shrimp, chinese mushroom, chicken or pork (chinese sausage or belly pork) and sometimes water chestnut importantly wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed. DO NOT EAT THE LOTUS LEAF! While the rice is steamed in the leaf, the flavour of the lotus leaf is infused into the rice and it's other contents.

Wu Gok - Taro Dumpling. Made with mashed taro, mixed with mushroom, shrimp and pork, then deep fried in a fluffy and crispy batter.





Fung Jau - Chicken feet, deep fried, boiled, marinated in a black bean sauce and then steamed. This dish is all about texture. The process will result in skin that is light and tender.

Char Siu Sou - Barbecue pork puffs. Cantonese barbecue pork baked in a flaky puffy pastry.

Lo Bak Go - Turnip Cake. Lo Bak or Chinese turnips mashed and mixed with dried shrimp and/or pork, sliced and fried til golden brown. Often served with a barbecue sauce.

Juk - Congee or Rice porridge, served with different meats and garnished with fresh chopped spring onion, soy sauce and sesame oil. Most often served with pork, or duck egg.

Shanghai, Dalston

Shanghai

41 Kingsland High Street
London E8 2JS
020 7254 2878

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

foodbymark said
a hidden but cheap diamond in the east
I lived in Dalston for 8 months over three years ago and had walked briskly by this Chinese restaurant opposite McDonalds many times. I had perhaps passed it over as another chinese takeaway/local type place not giving it a second glance. I recently read about the restaurant in several guides to Dim Sum in London and was beyond shocked to see a restaurant in Dalston, of all places, cropping up on almost every list.

The restaurant's unassuming, but heavily stickered, shop frontage and entrance dining hall has kept it's history of previously being a traditional east end pie and eel shop that opened in Victorian times. It has kept it's original floor, oak booths, tiled walls and eel-motifed mirrors. However, the rear of the restaurant, where we were seated, is a newly-built modern dining room painted red symbolizing luck and happiness with dome skylights made from stained glass. The atmosphere is warm and comfortable as you are almost whisked away from Dalston.

Whilst Shanghai is a restaurant which claims to be modern Shanghaiese, it turns out that the cuisine is not strictly Shanghainese, as they serve some of the typical Cantonese and westernised dishes. We came for Dim Sum (also known as Yum Char) and ordered our standard dishes for comparison purposes which included bamboo steamers of Har Gau, Siu Mai, Har Cheung Fun, Lor Mei Gai, Char Sui Bao, Fung jau and fried dishes Gee Bau Har and Woo Gok. The success story of Yum Char was the enormous and tasty Siu Mai, small steamed dumplings with pork inside a Wonton pastry topped with a crab roe, so large they were bulging out of spoons and almost beyond a mouthful. Only the Woo Kok, mashed taro, stuffed with diced shiitake mushrooms, shrimp and pork, deep-fried in crispy batter, were slightly too salty for our tastes and the Fung Jau, chicken feet, deep fried, boiled, marinated in a black bean sauce and then steamed, were in a sauce a little too thick.

The result was a thoroughly enjoyable Yum Char to which I will give my strong recommendation. The bill was just under £24 for 8 dishes and chinese tea for two including tip. Bargain! The downside is that it is not easy to get to by unless you prepared to either drive or take buses/overland trains.

Royal China, Westferry Circus, E14

Royal China

30 Westferry Circus
Blackwall
London, E14 8RR

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

There are many places to eat Dim Sum in London and there have been for at least as long as I was a kid and my parents used to drive to China Town every weekend for Sunday Dim Sum with friends and family.

Royal China Westferry is part of the Hong Kong china of restaurants. In the same way as the others, it is perhaps one of the more dressed up Chinese restaurant establishments in London and as well as Dim Sum it does serve a full "A La Carte" menu with authentic dishes. Unlike the others, in the summer you also get the chance to dine Al Fresco and it is often quicker to get a table outside because being exposed on the riverside, it can get very windy and suddenly chilly.

Dim Sum here is fresh and as quick as it should be and all the standard six or seven dishes you might order for Dim Sum are good, although not great. The staff don't apply too much pressure for you to leave and it never seems to be quite as busy as those in central London.

Worth a Saturday or Sunday visit although be warned it is slightly more expensive than others, and yes as with all proper Chinese restaurants, Dim Sum is a brunch/lunch type meal and is not served in the evening.

Royal China, Queensway, London, W2

Today is all about Dim Sum. Shanghai. No. Four Seasons. No. Royal China. Yes.

So we didn't end up making it to Dalston to eat at Shanghai. After leaving the house and walking to the bus stop on Parnell Road, we realised that we didn't really know how to get there on foot and we were better off going central. After switching between Queensway and China Town about 10 times we stayed on the Central line and made our way in the drizzle to Four Seasons (84 Queensway) - the Roast Duck specialist... the clue, is in the name. The pile of ducks in the A quick glance at the menu we quickly realised the error of our ways and swiftly headed out back onto Queensway to Royal China back up the road.


Royal China
13 Queensway, W2 4QJ

Background: This was out first time at Royal China on Queensway. We were greeted by a slightly vulgar black lacquer and gold interior - seemingly constant theme of the "group" of restaurants. 10 minutes in and we were seated, not so bad a wait considering the increasing number of people waiting for tables. We kept it simple and ordered our usuals: Har Gau (Prawn Dumpling/筍尖蝦餃), Siu Mai (Minced Pork Dumpling with Shrimps/干蒸燒賣), Char Siu Buns (Roast Pork Bun/蠔油叉燒飽), Spicy Chicken Feet (豉椒鳳爪), Nor Mai Gai (Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaves/金牌糯米雞), Woo Kok (Yam Paste with Dried Meat/荔茸芋角) and Har (Prawn) Cheung Fun (鮮蝦腸粉). As a commentary purely on food, this is by far the best taste experience for Dim Sum I have had in London. Every prawn was tasty, fresh and juicy and the woo kok is hot, fresh and flavorful. The staff were attentive enough for me and the bill came to slightly over £26 which unfortunately does put in in the slightly pricier category of dim sum restaurants in London. Well worth it though it seems.

Verdict: Given that I would normally grant Royal China in Westferry Circus between 5-6/10 my score for this experience will be 8/10 for Dim Sum in London. Yet to be bettered. This outstrips any experience thus far in central London.

Shanghai, E8 2JS

Shanghai, E8 2JS

We are eating here today. A Chinese restaurant just along the road from Dalston Kingsland Station, which I have read about countless times in magazines and newspapers. Apparently, a hidden gem in East London. We shall be the judges of this.

http://www.toptable.co.uk/venues/restaurants/?id=1320

It all started from a little list I copied out of the London Shite last week. There were 10 restaurants, and I cleverly only wrote down the ones I hadn't been to:

Leongs legends 4 macclesfield street w1 02072870288
Kai mayfair 65 south audley street 02074938988
Phoenix palace 5 glenworth street NW1 02074863515
Yauatcha 15 broadwick st w1 02074948888
Four seasons 84 queensway 02072294320
Shanghai 41 kingsland road 02072542878