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DOS HERMANOS: GO EVERYWHERE, EAT EVERYTHING

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Monday, February 06, 2006

ROYAL CHINA

ROYAL CHINA

As ever, when Dos Hermanos are feeling a little ' tired and emotional" from the indulgences of the night before, we decided on Dim Sum for Sunday lunch.

Dim Sum in London splits into three distinct categories

1) BASIC
The sort of thing one finds in Chinatown and as variable as that suggests. Current favourites are Harbour City and Golden Dragon ( although recent reports that they were fined when a cockroach was found on a meat slicer have taken the edge off my enthusiasm ) On average a DH meal of c14 dishes + a plate of belly pork and duck cost around £40 for two

2) MID RANGE
Royal China's branches are the best example of this. A notch above in the cooking stakes and notch above in price too with a bill for anywhere between £40-60 being the norm

3) TOP END
Hakasan remains the best Dim Sum in London by a long long way. The dim sum are imaginative, beautifully presented and the service is excellent. The bill for two will usually ( for us anyway ) top £100 including service. But, as an irregular treat, well worth every penny.

Yesterday, we went for the middle option and sauntered down to Royal China at Canary Wharf in time to arrive at 11am just as they opened.

The last time we had been last Summer, the cooking had been off point, the frying poor and the baked dumplings not up to snuff. I am happy to say that it was right back on form this time and not one of the 14 dishes we ordered was less than excellent. For the record, we had

Steamed pigs trotters with braised peanuts
Scallop and pig tongue dumplings
Prawn dumplings
Roast pork puffs
Prawn and chive dumplings
Deep fried scallop dumplng
Dried shrimp cheung fun
chiar sui buns
Paper wrapped prawns
Vietnamese spring rolls
Turnip paste
Taro paste
Squid paste
Sesame paste balls

As you can see, we went long on paste

The frying, particularly was very good indeed with no greasiness and the steamed chiar sui which can sit rather heavily on a full tum, were very light.

A very reasonable bill of £41 for two inc service came as a very pleasant surprise and we waddled out of there an hour later ready to head home and watch the big match.

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1 Comments:

Blogger S said...

A non-dim-sum related comment, but I wanted to alert you to what I consider to be the best Chinese restaurant in London. It's called Gold Mine and it's on Queensway next to Magic Wok. It is staffed by the former chef and some of the service staff from Four Seasons in its heyday. When there, definitely order the roast duck. You should also try the eggplant with minced pork, steamed egg with 3 types of egg (off the menu), Japanese beancurd (off the menu), braised beef brisket, roast pork fried with garlic and soya sauce (off-menu, try asking for "mother's home-style pork"). Bring friends, Chinese food always works better with economies of scale. Hope you enjoy the food as much as I did. :)

Thursday, June 28, 2007 5:48:00 am  

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