Ping Pong Dim Sum

DanWilkinson

Great dim sum, especially for a chain 16th November 2008

1 found this helpful

Like many people, I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to chain restaurants. I don't avoid them per se, but my expectations are always lowered by the existence of more than one restaurant with the same name. So it was with well-managed hopes that the missus and I wandered across the river to Ping Pong for lunch.

As it turned out, our preparation was needless. Our waiter kindly talked us through the menu and the ordering process, and we kicked off with a couple of drinks (including a fig & black pepper iced tea - delicious).

My only criticism of Ping Pong was that it all seemed to go too quickly. We inhaled about 9 plates between the two of us, and although we were both properly full by the end, neither of us wanted to stop. Every single dish was fresh, vibrant, grease-free and singing with flavour, from the lamb puffs through to the scallop & shiitake dumplings.

One of the surprises of the meal was the satay squid, a million miles away from the claggy, sweetened peanut glop which often masquerades as satay, this was a lightly-applied marinade with a subtle note of roasted nuts underpinning fresh, zingy ginger flavours. Needless to say, the squid itself was pretty much spot on.

Stand-out dish for me has to be the prawn toasts. I'm a bit of a fan of benchmarking a restaurant on how well it handles the basics - the bread, the martini, the steak - and prawn toasts are one such dish. At Ping Pong, they're richly flavoured, crisp and dry on the outside, juicy and deeply prawny on the inside. Without a doubt, the best I've had.

Now I know you can get (and I've eaten) better dim sum in London. But whether you can pay just £20 a head for quality like this I'm not so sure. It's lively, it's well-cooked, it's exciting flavours and great service, and I for one would come here over Royal China any day.

beckyfox

Great food 3rd September 2008

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Went to ping pong dim sum with my boyfriend for dinner. It was amazing! the food is great and has a great selection. The restaurant is very modern and trendy. the staff were very helpful to when it came to ordering. the idea of the restaurant is you can order lots of little dishes. you get a form to fill out as you would never remember what you want without it. the only thing i would say is it can get very expensive for a main meal and my boyfriend was actually still hungry when we left. i would definitely go back because it had all my favorites there like spring rolls, prawn toast and seafood rice is great.

andreams

Ping Pong Restaurant 23rd July 2007

5 found this helpful

I've heard good things about this small chain, but if my experience at the new branch on the South Bank is anything to go by, they are expanding too fast. The food was ok, if pricey, but nowhere near as good as Yauatcha, which the decor suggests it is trying to emulate. What really spoilt the evening was the extraordinarily poor service. To start with,we were left alone without menus for 15 minutes or so - when we did order the service was offhand - and when the bill arrived we had been charged for drinks we hadn't ordered. The manager insisted that my (pregnant) friend had been drinking vodka cocktails, not fruit juice, and it took 20 minutes of arguing to get the correct bill. All I can think is that this branch is aiming for one-off tourist trade. Needless to say, we won't be going back.

Jimbo at 10/09/07

Good to know that. I've been to two other branches before and was planning to pay this one a visit as well. But that's not going to happen anymore!

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