REVIEW: PING PONG
I felt uneasy as soon as I walked into Ping Pong on Great Marlborough Steet. I couldn’t put my finger on the reason why, and being my first time dining in London, I decided to stay positive and give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt.
However, things did not start well. Despite having made a reservation for lunch and there being only one table occupied, we were not allowed to take a seat until all of our party had arrived. I can understand such a rule being enforced when a restaurant is full – but not when it is empty. And by the time we did take our seats, we were greeted by a couple of surly waitresses.
Of course, being the first time since I have been in a Chinese restaurant since arriving in the UK, I would have forgiven this all for some well made dim sums.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. The white doughy skins of the steamed dumplings (the har gau and chive dumplings) were far too thick and by the time that they arrived at the table, no longer steaming hot. And by the time that I munched through the chewy skins, I was only disappointed to bite on, in respect of the har gau, skinny little prawns.
This was largely representative of much of the meal. The siew mai (pork dumplings) and the char siew pao (steamed pork buns) were better than average but underwhelming. Probably the result of being spoilt by Chinese food in Sydney, I expect my siew mai to be bursting with juices and flavours, my pork buns to be fluffy and filled with rich barbeque pork. The spring rolls were not crispy, but rather, much too dense and again arrived at the table lukewarm. On a more positive note, I found the prawn toast to be quite tasty and novel, however, again it didn’t arrive hot with the result that the corners of the little triangle toasts had to be carefully negotiated inside eager mouths.
Yum cha needs to be served hot – so hot that you have to stop yourself from immediately tucking in so that you don’t burn the insides of your mouth. What made this particularly unforgiveable, in my view, is that the food is brought to your table to order – not from trolleys that ply their way between the tables. So there is really no reason why the food shouldn’t arriving steaming.
By the time we finished, the restaurant was largely full with a short line at the door. So maybe there is something to be said for Ping Pong. All that I know is that I will not be returning any time soon.
Details:
The Place: Ping Pong
Where: 45 Great Marlborough Street, Soho (they have a number of different restaurants in London)
Food: Yum cha
Tip: They do offer some interesting teas on the menu.
Butcher’s Bill: ₤17.50 per head on a Sunday all you can eat deal plus a few extra pounds for drinks.
Who should go: Anyone who hasn’t had yum cha in Sydney or Hong Kong.
