Princess Garden
8-10 North Audley Street
W1K 6ZD
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, March 20, 2010
The Victims: QueeLim, Reiko
The Damage: £15 each
The Background: I love dim sum. But I know very little about it. I just know how to point at things that look good. Oh, and I also know that every time I point at char sui buns, I accidentally eat the rice paper on the bottom and (not surprisingly) find the buns dry and disappointing.
At Princess Garden, there are no dim sum trolleys. This makes me sad, because I do like to point at things. (And laugh. Point and laugh. Point and laugh.) So instead, I put myself in QueeLim's hands and let him do the ordering.
So let's start there. Char sui buns. Dense, somewhat flavorless bread, surrounding marinated pork. Princess Gardens' chair sui buns are much better examples than those I've tasted elsewhere. And I didn't eat the rice paper.
I could be wrong, but I believe these were the Shredded Mooli Cakes (radish cakes) and the Shredded Taro Pancakes. (Not sure which is which, however.) I discovered taro–a kinda purplish potato root type of thing–during two weeks in China in 2000 and really really like it. I was ready to order more of these.
And I enjoyed whatever this was too. (Please enlighten me.) Although I looked fairly stupid trying to use my chopsticks to grab these.
The prawn dumplings were okay, but I think we let them sit too long before eating them. They were nothing to write home about.
I really wanted some noodles, but I was not pleased with these. Too gloopy. And this was our server's recommendation. The crunchy noodles were meant to melt under the meat and the sauce, but at the end, they just tasted like raw noodles.
The Verdict: Dim sum–it's like a surprise every time! But I wasn't over the moon about Princess Garden. That being said, we started off really strong with those mooli cakes and the taro and I would gladly go back for more of those. Maybe they do take-out? Would that be weird if I just showed up and asked for the mooli cakes and taro to go?
11 comments
you made me hungry. i`ll go and take my lunch :))
The ones in the background are the taro croquettes (yu gwok). The rice noodle thing is cheung fun (looks like it was stuffed with char siu).
I’m not a huge fan of char siu bao myself, I find the bun too filling when I just want to stuff myself silly with dumplings.
This place is on my list to visit for dim sum but not quite got round to it yet. BTW – the unidentified dim sum were cheung fun.
It's definitely a more Mayfair dim sum. Classy. Thanks for identifying the cheung fun!
Yeah, I don't know why I always get suckered into char siu bao. Need to stick with the fun stuff.
Next time try getting a prawn cheung fun, a siu mai, and turnip cake. I can’t imagine ordering dim sum without those three.
I’ve never heard of Princess Garden before, but your dishes don’t look especially good. (And don’t even think about getting takeaway dim sum! Dim sum needs to be hot and fresh).
“Maybe they do take-out? Would that be weird if I just showed up and asked for the mooli cakes and taro to go?”
That’s what Chinese bakeries are for! Yummy fillings such as sweet pork or taro in buns you can transport easily. They’re a bit denser at less elegant, but hit the spot.
The one that you tried to grab using chopsticks is the char siew cheung fun that American in London recommended. It normally come with some light soy sauce but yours seemed to be a tad too dry. Was it good? Oh, try cutting it up with a spoon, that’s what I would have done anyway as I’m totally rubbish with chopsticks as well and I blame it on my Ma. 🙂
Oh, just realised that Mr Noodles has already identified the dish. Serves me right for not reading through the comments first. Anyway, I don’t think they will bat an eyelid if you order some dim sum to go. But I’m not sure whether they’ll taste as good if you do that.
It looks like a very stylish restaurant, not quite sure of what to make of the food though. I had heard about this place before, maybe I should pay it a visit sometime soon. Love dim sum too!
The best (certainly best value) dim sum I’ve tried is probably at Joy King Lau – http://www.joykinglau.com/ – service is brisk and totally unpretentious, but the dim sum is very yummy. When my boyfriend’s family comes to visit from China we go there when they miss authentic Chinese food… yummm.
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