The Royal China Baker Street has been around since 2004 and is the flagship branch from the group of eight in which in belongs. The speciality is Cantonese food, in particular dim sum which is why I came here. It’s tirelessly crafted by 3 chefs with over 20 years experience between them. Big sweary Gordon has even been here to film the F Word back in 2008. His attempt to make dim sum was dismal!
The menu has all the classics which I love.
Pu erh tea – it’s smooth, earthy and mellow. More importantly it cuts through the richness so you can eat more.
Chilli sauce, chilli oil, Worcestershire sauce and fish sauce vinegar are all the essential condiments for dim sum.
Prawn and chive dumplings £4.20 – these are one of my favourites and are an essential dim sum item to order. If a dim sum chef gets them wrong then there’s no hope! Here, however, they are do them well as the pert prawns wrapped in translucent pastry are as succulent as can be, and there plenty aromatic chives stuffed in to make your palate sing.
Pork and radish dumplings £3.80 or chiu chow fun gor (in Cantonese) are compelling too. All the ingredients are clear and identifiable which are enhanced by 5 spice. I love them.
Har gau £4.20 – succulent prawns seasoned with white pepper, sesame oil and diced bamboo shoots in translucent sticky wrappers. It’s pure crack.
Prawn cheung fun £5.20. The prawns are good as seemingly, they are from the same stock as the dumplings. The wrapper seasoned in house blended soy is soft and silken as it should be.
Fried yam paste meat dumplings £3.80 or wu gok in Cantonese. They arrived fresh from the frier with a crispy piping hot exterior, stuffed with a generous amount of delectable yam filling. The barometer of how good these are based upon the yam filling and how flakey they – they seem to hit the mark here.
Generous amounts of purple yam filling here.
Vietnamese spring rolls £4.20. The indicator of how good these fried treats can be is the value it brings from the sum of it’s parts. Its a case in point with these as there are plenty of well seasoned prawns, minced pork and mushrooms. My slight grumble was that the wrapper could have been crispier.
Kai Lan with ginger £10.80. If I was being finicky (I’m a paying customer after all!), these could have benefited with less cooking to retain the naturally sweet qualities of the vegetable.
Stuffed bean curd rolls £3.80 – with these it’s all about the bean curd wrapper skin which provides the perfect little container for all the fresh ingredients. There’s pork, prawns, wood ear shrooms and other julienned vegetables which all taste fresh – perhaps a drizzle more of sauce would have lifted them as they were a wee bit parched.
Spicy chickens feet £3.80. You can’t have dim sum without ordering these. I wasn’t to be disappointed as they carried loads of flavour.
Plain cheung fun with peanut sauce £4.20. This was the hero dish for me, silken, soft and totally luscious. The peanut and hoisin sauce provides a delectable coating making the mouth feel extra rich.
Roast pork cheung fun £4.80. They were delish.
Beef dumplings £3.80 – piping hot, fresh from the steamer, just like how it should be, dip them into the Worcestershire sauce for maximum effect.
Verdict:
When did I go? Aug 2016
The damage: Expect to pay £25-£35 per head with tea.
The good: It was hard to fault the freshly made dim sum here in the plush surroundings that arrived in no time. The plain cheung was a stunner, it’s hardly fair to call it plain since they were intensely satisfying to eat. I would suggest checking this place out if you haven’t as it makes a refreshing change to some of the hit and miss places in Chinatown.
The bad: It’s a bit costly in comparison to its Chinatown cousins.
Rating: 3.5/5
Would I go again? Yes
Address: 24-26 Baker St, Marylebone, London W1U 3BZ
Closest tube: Baker St/Oxford Circus
Phone: 020 7487 4688
http://www.theroyalchina.co.uk
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