London - Oh Yum Dim Sum!

I love dim sum.

To me its always been associated with lazy weekend afternoons, sleeping in, talking as loud and expressively as you want, lots of wild hand gesturing, ordering ridiculous amounts of perfectly bite sized, and very pretty if not weird looking, food, eating aforementioned ridiculous amounts of food, having the push-cart ladies convince you to order more food when you can’t even finish what’s on the table, and large family gatherings where someone inevitably says something wrong, resulting in one (or more) person storming out of the restaurant, an awkward silence and then a sudden mad rush to settle the bill.

Okay, so maybe that last association wasn’t exactly picturesque, but hey – family is family. It is understandable then that it was rather difficult having a “dim sum” restaurant directly across from where I was working in London and not immediately run over and gorge myself silly. So, why the quotation marks around the words dim sum? And why didn’t I make a mad dash over?

It was too pretty.

Seriously.

I’m used to walking up dark narrow staircases to reach dim florescent-lit rooms with disgruntled looking middle aged women practically yelling their offerings to you; or overtly bright rooms where one finds painted gold dragons upon the wall, red signage inscribed with Chinese calligraphy, imitation scroll paintings, fish tanks, or all of the above. Even at the more upscale dim sum locations, such as Kirin in downtown Vancouver, there is still that typical white tablecloth Chinese restaurant vibe. Ping Pong is none of those things.

Ping Pong is a successful chain of restaurants in London, with several locations in prime areas all about the city, serving up “little steamed parcels of deliciousness.” I dined at the original Ping Pong located in Soho, right on Great Marlborough Street just around the corner from the fashionable Carnaby Street. Designed by architect David Marquardt, the restaurant is stunning; the place looks and feels like a study in minimalistic, Asian, feng shui design. From the front of the restaurant where large open windows let natural light into the entire front dining area, dominated by a large, curved, sushi-bar like counter, behind which stand the chefs working in billowing clouds of steam, preparing your meal; to the interior of the restaurant with its fluid, airy open design, glossy black lacquered tables, and suspended diffused lighting. The most impressive focal point of the room, however, is a glass enclosed square in the middle of the dining room that, on the gorgeous spring day we were there, filled the room with so much sun, one could’ve easily forgotten they were indoors.



Strangely missing from Ping Pong are the Chinese people, there basically aren’t any. Usually, that’s a very, very bad sign when it comes to Asian dining; but I figured this is London, there just aren’t that many of us, and Ping Pong never did say anything about authenticity. Gone are the rude, loud, ladies and their pushcarts, instead your bamboo baskets of steamed goodies arrive on the well balanced tray of good looking, indifferent, accented French waiters dressed in chic black head to toe. The décor is, in my opinion, more Japanese in essence than Chinese, and yelling or wild hand gesturing is a definite social no-no. The menu is collection of fairly standard dim sum items, some reinterpreted and redone “eurostyle.” There are no chicken feet or various animal digestive parts to be found here, they don’t even have egg tarts. Blasphemy! At least that’s probably what most of you dim sum lovers out there are thinking. I was curious though. How do you westernize dim sum? Well, let me be the one to tell you, it’s actually not half bad.

Firstly, order the jasmine tea. Yes, it’s an exorbitant price to pay for tea that tastes like the free stuff they serve in any other Chinese restaurant. However, those teas come in a disposable tea bag, dunked into a cracked tea pot that never pours properly; the Jasmine tea at Ping Pong comes in a tall clear glass, the “tea leaf” is an entire blossom head dried perfectly round that gradually “blooms” as it soaks in the hot water. I know. I’m a total sucker for aesthetics. Then I would strongly recommend going with one of the set meals as they are a good deal – each includes a baked puff, sticky rice, several types of dumplings, and dessert. Of course, you can always just order off the a la carte menu and share amongst yourselves…but I would really only do that only with a minimum party of four so you can try a larger range of items from the menu. I ordered the mixed menu that came with 2 baked puffs, 2 each of the following dumplings: Chive, Spicy Pork, Seafood, and Crystal, sticky rice and two scoops of ice cream.



With lunch around £20 per person, you’re definitely paying a little extra for the location and ambiance. I felt that the food definately fell short of expectations- the flavors underdeveloped in several dishes and non-existent in others; but I was pleasantly surprised by the nice balance that was struck in a few of the items, such as the Chive dumplings and Seafood tortellini. Both items benefiting greatly from the fusion of Western/European forms and elements with traditional dim sum ingredients and flavors. Authentic it is not, for that I would head over to Royal China in Canary Wharf, but in keeping with what I said in my review of Amaya, sometimes a little innovation is good thing, and Ping Pong wins me over in both concept and design, but fails to deliver with its cuisine.

Ping Pong (Original Location)

45 Great Marlborough Street, Soho

London, W1F 7JL
Tel 020 7851 6969

Tube Station: Oxford Circus