Dim Sum & Rare Noodles @ Dragon Palace

A walk along Earl's Court Road is quite soul-destroying if you're a food snob (or even if you're not). Wagamama, Masala Zone, Zizzi, McDonalds, Nando's, Costa, Starbucks and KFC – the usual chain suspects that blight the streets of London are all present and correct.

So it's a pleasant surprise to see a decent Chinese restaurant in this corner of the capital. Dragon Palace might look like a regulation High St Chinese but scratch beneath the surface and you'll discover some very interesting dim sum and noodle dishes. This isn't a new opening; it's been around for a few years but it just hasn't caught the eye of many bloggers or critics.

Joining me for lunch were fellow bloggers Su-Lin and Gourmet Chick, we all live out west so this was a handy spot to meet. Unbelievably, both of my dining companions had previously been to this restaurant, albeit off the blog and not for dim sum. And there was me thinking that I'd found somewhere far from the blogging crowd!

The Noodles
星州炒銀針粉 Fried 'Needle Noodles' Singapore style (£5.80)
'Needle noodles' originate from Southern China and are also very popular amongst the Chinese communities of Singapore and Malaysia. Their proper name is silver needle noodles (银针粉) and they're also known as rat noodles (老鼠粉) because they're tapered like a rat's tail.

These noodles are rarely seen in the UK and I was curious as to their sourcing. Stupid question really, as the noodles are hand-made on the premises. I'm not sure how they manage to make them so translucent, as these noodles are usually made out of rice flour.

We ordered the fried 'Needle Noodles' Singapore style, which is essentially that old classic, Singapore noodles. This dish is a guilty pleasure of mine and you can't go far wrong with it. Reassuringly yellow-tinged from the curry powder, these noodles were a fine accompaniment to our dim sum feast.

The Steamed Stuff
家鄉魚米粿 gar herng yee mai gor Village dumplings (£2.50)
蝦餃 har gau Prawn dumplings (£2.50)
帶子蝦餃 har dai tze gau Scallop & prawn dumplings (£2.60)
花枝片 fa ji pin Steamed squid & garlic (£2.20)
叉燒包 cha siu bau Honey roast pork buns (£2.20)
Weekend Special - Steamed pork belly & taro bun (£3.20)

Village dumplings

All of the steamed dumplings were well made and generously filled, with my favourite being the village dumplings. I've not come across these before, and unusually for dim sum, they were filled with fish in the form of red tilapia amongst other bits and bobs. The wrapper was a bit too sticky but the filling was delicate, juicy and flavoursome.

Squid & garlic

Pork belly & taro bun

The steamed squid was also interesting and I really enjoyed the very garlicky dressing. That said my inner-Homer prefers his squid deep-fried. Both types of steamed bun were of decent quality and the weekend special of pork belly & taro buns were reminiscent of Taiwanese gua bao (刮包), albeit a stripped-down mini-wraparound version. If I was being ultra-critical, it could've done with some pickles but really it was fine as it was.

The Rest
芋角 wu gok Yam croquettes (£2.40)
墨魚餅 mut yu beng Squid cakes (£2.30)
Weekend Special - Red bean paste dessert (£3.20)
蘿蔔糕 loh bak goh Turnip paste with wind-dried meat (£2.20)
豉油王煎腸粉 ci yau wong tsin cheung fun Pan-fried dried shrimp cheung fun (£2.50)

Yam croquettes

Squid cakes

The fried offerings were every bit as good as their steamed counterparts. The yam croquettes were very fresh, as my burnt mouth can testify. I also liked their version of squid cakes, which were unusually wrapped in tofu skin (腐皮 fu pi) before frying. This gave them a crispy shell whilst retaining a springy interior – highly ingenious!

Red bean paste dessert

We didn't order the red bean paste dessert, which arrived because of a mix-up over which special we'd ordered. After sending it away, it earned a late reprieve due to Su-Lin's intervention. You'll like it if you like red bean paste.

Pan-fried cheung fun

I'm not a big turnip paste fan but it was well made as was the pan-fried cheung fun. Despite being a very popular street food dish way out east, few dim sum joints sell the latter in the UK. I love the crust that forms on the bottom of these otherwise silky smooth rice noodle rolls. This dish was packed full of flavour from the soy and in particular, the dried shrimp (蝦米 har mai).

The Details
Dragon Palace looks very ordinary from the outside and by the standards of Chinese restaurant design is quite minimalist. The service was good in an unassuming way and they didn't rush us out of the door when we finished.

The presentation of the lunch menu is highly praiseworthy being in English, Chinese characters and transliterated Cantonese. It also has pictures and a brief description of each dish. In addition to the Cantonese dim sum, the menu has a definite Straits Chinese influence with the likes of char kway teow and nasi goreng making an appearance.

The bill was a mere £41 between the three of us including tea and 12.5% service – that's less than £14/head. In comparison, Chinatown prices are about the same but you'll be hard pushed to find the same quality. Whilst a similar sized feast at one of the more heavyweight dim sum joints such as Pearl Liang, Phoenix Palace, or Royal China might cost nearer the £20/head mark.

The Verdict
Dragon Palace deserves plaudits for doing things a little differently. I think it's brilliant that they go to the trouble to make their own noodles as well as knock up weekend specials. This is an accessible and affordable option for quality dim sum, especially for those with a W in their postcode.



Dragon Palace, 207 Earl's Court Rd, London SW5 9AN (Tel 020 7370 1461)
Nearest tube: Earl's Court

M&Z Restaurant - Shanghai in London

Regular readers will know that I'm a big fan of Shanghai cuisine. Sadly, it isn't all that common in London but through comments left on my blog and some research on Chowhound, I came across two places, Red Sun and M&Z, that serve authentic Shanghai dishes. Of the two, the latter seemed more welcoming, which is why I pitched up there recently with Les and Bob.

M&Z is named after its two co-owners, Mr M and Mr Z – one from Sichuan, the other from Shanghai. As such, the menu is a mix of their respective native cuisines with a few 'greatest hits' thrown in. I've eaten enough Sichuan over the last few years to be considered an honorary Sichuanese so I made it clear in no uncertain terms that we were only ordering Shanghai dishes gently steered my dining companions towards the Shanghai section of the menu.

The Starters
Rather bizarrely I couldn't find 小笼包 xiao long bao on the menu but the waitress said that they did serve them. These were reassuringly handmade but they could've been more delicate and soupy for my liking. That said I am a fussy-bollocks when it comes to these king of dumplings.

金陵盐水鸭 Jinling salted duck (£5.90) is also known as Nanjing salted duck and this cold starter was ball-breakingly authentic and technically spot on. But then I recalled that on the rare occasion that I've sampled this dish, I've found it too salty for my liking. It went well with the beer though.

The Mains
We probably over ordered but given the early onset of wintry weather, we managed to finish everything off.

狮子头 Meatballs with homemade sauce (£8.70) aka shizi tou or lion's head meatballs is a classic Shanghai dish. These were well made, moist and juicy and whilst cooked through (they were pre-cooked), the meatballs hadn't been properly heated through and were a little lukewarm in the middle.

红烧肉 Grandmother braised pork (£7.90) aka hong shao rou or red-cooked pork belly was the star of the evening. You can't go much wrong with pork belly and if I was to be ultra-picky, it was just a bit too sweet for my liking and it could've been cooked for a bit longer.

??田鸡 Quick fried frog in homemade sauce (£12.80) – the frogs' legs were succulent but the accompanying sauce was a nasty gloopy affair that detracted from this dish.

水晶虾仁 Quick fried prawns Shanghai style served with vinegar (£8.90) – when I've sampled this dish in China, it's a real gem that's made with fresh river prawns. Sadly, this version was made with defrosted prawns.

上海炒年糕 Stir-fried rice cake with sliced pork Shanghai style (£5.30) – sliced glutinous rice cake or niangao is a Shanghainese speciality that is sometimes eaten instead of noodles. I liked this homely dish but a few of the rice cakes were still hard.

The Dessert
酒酿圆子 Glutinous rice ball in sweet rice wine (£2.80) – I was in two minds about dessert but I decided to give it a miss. Bob didn't and I think he quite enjoyed this dessert. To be honest, I can't remember whether he did or not!

The Details
I like the small intimate dining room at M&Z, which holds around 25 diners. There's also a downstairs dining room with another 20 or so covers. The service was attentive and charming and Mr Z (or was it Mr M?) had a quick chat with us about his restaurant.

The bill with rice, tea and beer came to £80.50 or apx £27/head including 10% service. We spent £60 on food but as I stated earlier, we probably over ordered and you could get away with spending less.

The Verdict
M&Z was a bit hit and miss but I don't want to be too harsh on this restaurant. The most important thing was that I had a good night out.

Looking back, I was benchmarking M&Z against the Shanghainese restaurants that I've visited in China. This isn't entirely fair and it should be noted that my dining companions didn't share all of my criticisms.

On balance, this is somewhere that I'd like to revisit and next time I may give their Sichuan dishes a try.



M&Z, 145 Cleveland St, London W1T 6QH (Tel 020-7387-2738)
Nearest tubes: Great Portland St, Warren St

Lunch @ The Providores and Tapa Room

Is this the most pretentious bowl of noodles in London? Well if it isn't then it's almost certainly the one with the longest name: Smoked coconut, tamarind and liquorice laksa with a chicken lime leaf dumpling, green tea noodles, crispy shallots and coriander (£9.30).

Is this a laksa?

Full disclosure. The very notion of a fusion restaurant in chi-chi Marylebone High St appropriating the term, laksa, to describe a bowl of noodles, costing nearly a tenner, offends me on so many levels that I don't even know where to begin. That said, there was something about this dish that intrigued me and I just knew I had to give it a try.

First impressions weren't good. I wasn't expecting a large bowl of noodles but nor did I quite anticipate being served a kid's meal from Lilliput. On the plus side, the broth was different class with the liquorice adding another dimension. But was it a laksa? I'll leave that question to my Malaysian friends to debate further, but in my eyes it wasn't.

World's smallest dumpling

Sadly the rest of the dish was a bit of a letdown, the green tea noodles were overcooked and any subtle tea flavour that they might have had was lost in the aromatic flavoursome broth. The chicken lime leaf dumpling (singular) was nothing short of a joke. The chicken wasn't so much minced but ground to an almost powdery consistency. And could they have made it any smaller?

Joining me for lunch was El Greco and I asked him to see if he could spot anything vaguely Greek on the menu that he might feel was an affront to him or his forebears. He struggled but there was some feta in the sweet potato, feta, spinach, and herb tortilla with yoghurt, basil pesto dressing, pine nuts and greens (£8.80). This was a finely balanced dish that was better suited to summer rather than winter but it was good quality nonetheless. El Greco just wished there was more of it.

At least they were generous with the salad leaves

Has my hand grown?

We also shared a glazed baked duck char siu bun with chilli jam (£6.20). The name of this dish is confusing, if not potentially misleading. I asked the waiter if the bun contained pork, as char siu is taken to mean honey-roasted pork in Chinese. He checked. It didn't. The bun contained just duck. I tell you, this lax use of Chinese food terminology is something that really gets on my tits. To be fair though, the management took on board my constructive criticism of their misuse of the Chinese language with good grace.

Duck but no char siu!

Ignoring char siu-gate, the bun was the best dish that we sampled. It was freshly baked and filled with juicy roast duck but yet again, it was a complete rip-off. Given how small the bun was, it wouldn't have been unreasonable to be served three, in the style of dim sum, rather than one for £6.20. The only other (minor) complaint was that the chilli jam was slightly overpowering. In my opinion, plum sauce would've been a better accompaniment.

The Details
The Providores and Tapa Room is one of London's most celebrated restaurants and needs little introduction. It consists of two separate dining rooms, the first floor Providores restaurant and the ground floor Tapa Room. We dined at the latter, which being a more casual café-style operation is the cheaper of the two.

The owner, Peter Gordon is a famous Kiwi celeb chef and a champion of fusion cuisine. These influences can be seen throughout the menu, which is quite possibly the most irritating menu ever. For God's sake, is there really any need to list all the chuffing ingredients in each and every dish?

The bill came to £27.34 including 12.5% service – this was just for the food, as we drank tap water. Even allowing for its Marylebone High St location, this was bloody expensive for what it was.

The Verdict
Restaurants like The Providores and Tapa Room aren't my natural habitat. However, it wasn't the fusion cuisine that I disliked – our food was by and large fine – it was the relationship between portion size and price.

We could've easily eaten double the amount of what we ordered or to put it another way, spend nearly £30 each (without drinks) on a quick workday lunch. For that kind of price, there are many other places that I'd rather visit.

But hey, what do I know? Despite the exorbitant prices, this is a very popular restaurant and in the 45 minutes or so that we were there, it was never less than busy. No mean feat for a Tuesday lunchtime.



The Providores and Tapa Room, 109 Marylebone High St, London W1U 4RX
(Tel 020-7935-6175) Nearest Tube: Baker St

Spanish Fried Rice 西班牙炒飯

As you may have gathered by now, I'm no great shakes in the kitchen. That said I do have a few dishes in my rather limited repertoire, one of which is fried rice.

Usually, I make this with whatever I have lying around. Stuff like leftover chicken might get bunged in a wok with some eggs, spring onion, and rice. Season with soy and finish off with some sesame oil and voila, a quick supper. Bit bloody boring really.

So one day I decided it to give my fried rice, an Iberian flavour with some chorizo, smoked paprika, peppers, onions and a couple of prawns. The end result needs some fine-tuning but I will be making this again.

The Battle of Borough Market: Roast v Brindisa

I don't know about you but whenever I visit Borough Market, I just have to grab a bite to eat. It's the only way to cope with the ever increasingly stressful ordeal of visiting this market on a Saturday. I usually go for a double chorizo sandwich from the open grill outside Brindisa. However, I fancied a change one Saturday, so I wandered over to Roast To Go.

Penélope Cruz, courtesy Wikipedia

Whilst in the queue, I began to daydream about an imaginary battle between these two stalls to decide who is The King of Borough Market. The film running through my mind is a gangland drama with Ray Winstone, exuding his trademark quiet malevolence, playing the head of the Roast mob. Javier Bardem portrays the boss of the rival Brindisa gang boss, for the simple reason that he's the first Spanish actor that popped into my head.

As with most big Spanish films (real or imaginary), Penélope Cruz is in it and it was at the point when her character was abducted by Winstone's that I reached the front of the queue. My screenplay would just have to wait; although I'm pretty sure Pedro Almodóvar won't be calling anytime soon.

Back at Roast, I duly ordered the pork belly with apple sauce sandwich (£6). Unfortunately, it was bland and tasteless. To add insult to injury, the crackling was chewy and not even the apple sauce could lift this poor effort. It really could've done with some stuffing or gravy but even that wouldn't have disguised the fact that it was overpriced and under-seasoned.

In contrast, Brindisa's trusty old double chorizo sandwich (£4.85) shows Roast how it should be done. There was always going to be more flavour, as chorizo naturally has, but it was the sweet piquillo peppers that nearly stole the show. Not even the presence of devil-weed (rocket) could spoil this superior sarnie. It's no wonder that there's always a queue for this beauty.

So, there's only one winner in the Battle of Borough Market and that's Brindisa, which isn't really much of a shock. Anyway, now we've established that, I know you're all dying to find out what happens in the rest of my screenplay, 'The King of Borough Market'.

Bardem rescues Cruz from the clutches of Winstone, who follows in hot pursuit. However, the Spanish gang leads Winstone's mob into a trap at a deserted Borough Market. Bardem has Winstone on his knees but spares him on the understanding that the Englishman will learn how to season pork belly properly. OK then, I guess I won't be giving up the day job anytime soon but I can always dream!