Princess Garden - Going Cantonese in London

Steamed mashed pork

I know what you're thinking. It's all very well banging on about the wonderful Cantonese food in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, but what about London? With that in mind, I decided to check out Princess Garden of Mayfair. Having not long returned from Hong Kong, I was a tad apprehensive as to whether it'd be up to scratch.

Drunken chicken

Five-spice beef slices

But I needn't have worried, as most of the dishes were very good. Although not strictly Cantonese, the cold starters of five-spice beef slices and drunken chicken were indicative of the generally high standard of the food.

Steamed sea bass

When it came to the mains, the kitchen passed the test of steaming a sea bass to perfection. Extra marks too for the deboning and portioning-up. The steamed mashed pork took me back to my childhood, although I have to say my Mum's version is better. Gai-lan with garlic was well rendered as were the e-fu noodles that came with more crab than might be expected.

Pork casserole with preserved veg

The only slightly bum notes were the pork casserole with preserved veg and the egg white with chives. In the case of the former, the pork wasn't unctuous enough whilst the latter was a tad oily and a bit mean with the chives. That said neither dish was objectionable. To round off, we enjoyed authentic Cantonese desserts such as sago pudding w/fragrant taro.

The dining room oozes elegance and is reminiscent of an upscale Hong Kong hotel restaurant (in a good way). Service was exemplary, and given that we were in Mayfair, the bill was a pleasant surprise. I still can't quite believe that dinner was a mere £28/head albeit sans booze but with tea, rice and service.

Taro croquette

Returning a week later for lunch, I was equally impressed by the high quality of their dim sum. The benchmark of any dim sum kitchen is har gau and these amply filled prawn dumplings passed the test. Of the other classics, my favourite was the prettiest taro croquette that I've come across. It tasted as good as it looked.

As good as the classics were, it was the more unusual dishes that grabbed my attention. Sadly, they had run out of baked cha siu bao (like the ones I recently had in Guangzhou). However, my disappointment soon turned to joy when I saw that they served golden cuttlefish cheung fun (thanks for the tip-off, Sharmila).

Golden cuttlefish cheung fun

This dish sees cuttlefish paste wrapped in tofu skin and deep-fried, with the resultant roll then further wrapped in cheung fun. The triple textural contrast of springy cuttlefish paste, crispy tofu skin, and slippery smooth rice noodle was the highlight of lunch. Granted, it's not as good as the version that I had at The Garden Hotel in Guangzhou, but I'm dead chuffed to have found somewhere that serves this dish in London.

Any negatives? My only (minor) gripe is that the Cantonese BBQ selection is limited to roast duck and that the porky delights of cha siu and siu yuk are absent from the menu. Mind you, whilst I like to have some siu yuk (crispy belly pork) with my dim sum, its absence isn't the end of the world. In common with dinner, lunch was cheaper than I anticipated - eleven dishes of dim sum, tea and service came to around £42 or £14/head.

It'd be fair to say that I really like Princess Garden and I'm going to add it to my list of best places for dim sum in London. Dinner is also excellent, and I still can't believe what amazing value this restaurant is. Especially given its classy elegant dining room and prime Mayfair location. Highly recommended.

I've been back to this restaurant, and for a look at some of their more interesting dim sum, please click here and scroll to the bottom.



Princess Garden of Mayfair, 8-10 North Audley Street, London, W1K 6ZD
(Tel: 020-7493-3223) Nearest tube: Bond St, Marble Arch