Sunday, November 20, 2005

Dim sum in style

Had dim sum lunch at Ping Pong with Cheyok and her friends.

I don't particularly like Chinese cuisine. But when it is served in style, I like it. Ping Pong, a dim sum restaurant in Soho, is hardly an ordinary Chinese restaurant. As the design of its official website suggests, its decor is like a cafe in a contemporary art museum. What impressed us was their jasmine tea. A tall glass with a ball-shaped dried jasmine leaf in it is served for each of us. A waiter pours hot water in it. Then the jasmine leaf ball begins budding, a jasmine flower emerging. It does taste proper jasmine tea. When you finish it, a waiter adds hot water again. I should have brought my camera to show this to this blog's readers...

If you like the way Chinese people eat foods, maybe this place is a bit too sophisticated and pretentious. But if you like Chinese foods but don't like the messy atmosphere typical of East Asia, this is your place to go.

There's another Chinese restaurant of this kind in Soho: Yauatcha (see 11th September 2004). Some say, according to Cheyok, that if Yauatcha is Prada in the comtemporary Chinese restaurant industry, Ping Pong is Miu Miu. I personally prefer Ping Pong.

Oh, the bill was 15 quid each. Not too bad at all, heh?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to say this and be blunt, you're tlaking complete nonense, and MOST LIKELY not Chinese. If you appreciate real Cantonese cusine you will have heard about Royal China, and the Royal China Club. By comparison Ping Pong is a sahbby little cafe. Time Out rated Royal China as Dim Sum ahead of the rest of the competition in London. And might I add the prawn dumplings Ping Pong servev are most likely bulk purchased from Royal China.

You're a dim whit.

Anonymous said...

Time Out's view on Royal China


"This shiny black restaurant leads the way for Dim Sum in London and the competition knows it"
Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide

If you no nothing about culture then idiots eat at Ping Pong. If you have refined class and taste and true appreciation for Cantonese Cuisine Royal China is the place to be!