Ping Pong Dim Sum

I recently went to Ping Pong to eat DimSum with my parents for the first time. The decorations are a bit dark and dreary and the lights are very dim but overall it has a very restaurant-y ambiance. You look through the menus and then write down what you want to order on a long order sheet which you then give to a waiter. Overall, there are some random ways to order food in chain restaurants in London, maybe that’s why I should avoid them. 

I ordered a pink lemonade which was amazing, very sour, how lemonade should really be. And I think we ordered about 12 dishes for the 4 of us. And we got dessert at the end as well, of course. They bring out the food whenever its ready which is perfect for me because I was really hungry. The spring rolls are really yummy, especially with their sweet and sour sauce. 

They brought out all the steamed food at the same time, and within second our table and plates were covered in food. The staff was really friendly and sweet helping us with any thing we didn’t understand and bringing us extra tap water when ever we needed it. My dinner experience was really good, we ate really quickly and it wasn’t over priced either. Next time I  want DimSum and don’t feel like going to Chinatown I’m going to Ping Pong. I also heard they do “all you can eat” sundays. Yum. 

Here’s their website: http://www.pingpongdimsum.com/

Royal Dragon

London is great for all types of ethnic food. When meeting up with a few friends from High School we went to Chinatown to have a taste of a different culture. I've only eaten in Chinatown twice because it is so far away from where I live, and there are a lot of places in Soho that I'd like to try too. The Royal Dragon caught our eye because it looked slightly more cleaned up that the other windows of restaurants along the main road of Chinatown.

We got seated, and given the menus, and it did take us all quite a while to decide. When getting seated I noticed that the people at the tables near us were speaking Mandarin. And usually when a person of the restaurant's same culture is eating there it is a very good sign. I ordered won-ton soup, some dumplings and I shared noodles with my friend Victoria. We all enjoyed sharing the food, and trying something we were used to but not too accustomed to. 

At the end they gave us a lemon scented hand towel, which I think we all appreciated. And when we asked to split the bill the waited remembered what we each had ordered and gave us each our own separate bills. 

Here's their website: http://www.rdklondon.co.uk/

Drunken Monkey

On Tuesday, after going bowling with a couple of friends three of us decided we wanted to do something else. We've walked past this restaurant called "The Drunken Monkey" so many times, but from the outside it looks so black, and gives you a feeling of unease. However, they do have a light up sign that says "DIM SUM ALL DAY" which is very inviting for me. I've not been able to eat good Chinese food around London without going all the way to Leicester Square, so I was quite happy to find this place.

I only ordered four king prawn dumplings, which I have to say were really amazing. We asked for tap water, and they came out with a huge jug of tap water with ice and lemon, which we were really grateful for because that way we didn't have to pester the staff for a refill. The menu is written on your "table cloth" that is handed to you when you tell them that you'd like to eat. Then a waiter comes by, takes one of the table cloths and writes down what you wish to order, circling the few items. The food didn't arrive all at the same time, one of my friends was done with one of her orders before everything else got brought to the table. Luckily we weren't dying of starvation because they offer prawn crackers as a free appetizer.

Sadly, I didn't really like the service, because I had also ordered beef dumplings and they didn't tell me they had run out, and some how they brought vegetarian spring rolls to our table as well. This confusion made me a bit unhappy, and therefore I had to be the bitch that asked them to take the service charge off the bill. Hopefully next time I go there it will be better. 

Here's a link to their webpage: http://www.thedrunkenmonkey.co.uk/