Dim sum o’clock: Royal China London

You win some, you dim sum.

I couldn’t resist. I’m sorry. My puns will quite possibly never be good as The Londoner’s. Just excuse my horribly overused punning (except it was dim sum puns!)… and let’s say, join me while I dine on the dim sum menu at Royal China. Shall we?

On a mild day back in December, before the very panicked rush of the holidays had actually begun, Joe and I visited Baker Street’s favourite dim sum hot spot.

And Royal China seriously was a hot spot. For a lunchtime service, the 200 plus restaurant was mostly full. Did I mention this was on a Monday afternoon? As someone who rarely used to leave the office for lunches back when I worked full time, I’m always surprised to see how full places can be.

But I think it has something to do with the restaurant too.

Tables around us had ordered plate after plate, and we greedily eyed up the tables, trying to suss out what we wanted to order. Does anyone else do that? I swear one of these days I will pull a neck muscle while eyeing up someone’s dinner plate.

In the end, we decided it might be best to get the opinions of the experts.

So what did we love? Firstly, a totally solid recommendation from our waiter.

It may not be specifically “dim sum” but this à la carte dish is an all star, the Sliced Beef Ho Fun with Soya Sauce. I couldn’t stop eating this. Even after we were stuffed at the end of the meal, I kept slyly going for another bite.

I’d 100% go in again just for the sliced beef. It’s something I’d never select on my own as I don’t typically order beef dishes when I’m out. But maybe it’s a lesson to be learned, because I couldn’t stop tucking in.

verything prawn related.

The Prawn Dumplings. They’re kind of a classic, but isn’t that why they’re so good?!

Because we’re ~fancy~ we also selected the Steamed Prawn and Preserved Olive Crystal dumpling off of the Special Dim Sum menu. These dishes rotate frequently. Let me say, yum. All of the prawn dumplings were a win of the day.

Oh, were you not done hearing about the prawn dishes?

Sesame Prawn Rolls. Dreamy. Melt in your mouth. I’d order them again. Essentially like prawn toast, but as a roll, so it’s even better.

Um, and next was the Prawn Cheung Fun, a rice noodle roll, filled with prawns. You guessed it. It seems upon reflection (while I’ve been writing up this review) it’s a little noticeable that we might have a type of filling we love. 

But maybe it’s a good thing.

Because to be honest, I’d probably pass on the Shanghai Pork Dumplings next time. They tasted a little too oily for both our liking. I won’t claim to be a dim sum expert. Maybe they’re meant to be that way, but I could have easily traded them to have back even more prawn ones again.

And I didn’t personally love the BBQ Pork Belly Skewer (off the special dim sum menu), but Joe did. I thought it was OK. Maybe I’m not a fan of pork? Loved the prawn. And devoured the beef. Wasn’t feeling the pork. But hey, when you’re ordering for the group, you can’t hit a home run with every single dish.

Last but not least we really switched things up with the Deep Fried Roast Duck Roll in Batter, again off their special dim sum menu. Can you guess who picked it?! As Joe says, you can’t go wrong with anything deep fried, can you?

Needless to say, but the time we had finished, we felt like we wouldn’t be able to move for days. Did we really order all of that food? As a side note, we actually weren’t sure it was going to be enough at one point.

Luckily, after lunch we decided to go on a massive walk around Marylebone. We really needed it.

Kelly xox

PS. We were invited to review Royal China Baker Street, London, but all photos, opinions and prawn selections were my own.