Princess Garden of Mayfair

I seriously cannot fault the dimsum at Princess Garden of Mayfair. It has slowly become one of my favourite restaurants just for the quality of food, the location, the value and the decor. Service is definitely a lot more friendly than any restaurant in Chinatown but this restaurant is way out of its league to be compared in any restaurant in Chinatown. As far as value goes it is definitely affordable, still below £3.00 for most steamed simple dishes which is still cheap for any small tapa dish compared to the Spanish cuisine or any other cuisine.

I would recommend everyone to book ahead if you are deciding to venture in on the weekends from 12-2pm as on the last occasion we were there we saw people being turned away as they were completely booked. Luckily we booked a table for 1pm but still had to wait half an hour before a table was ready. A spacious well lighted and well decorated seating area is available in the waiting area with a bar for those who want to order drinks before settling in. With ornaments, statues and other things to browse at, a drink in hand, comfy leather sofas it did make waiting time a lot more easier go by. Although I wished the front of house staff could be more friendly and smile when greeting and turning people away.

Luckily service changed once we settled in. Everyone was very attentive, smiley and super efficient and quick. The restaurant itself takes on a modern decor with its white walls and tableclothes, large glass windows to allow natural sunlight in making it look very clean and nice to settle down into. Tea was immediately offered as well as the menu and I’m talking about good quality tea leaves here that actually has the rich taste of tea. Cutlery in its complete form without no chips and the waiting staff in uniform so easily recognised.

The dimsum started to arrive in no less than 10 minutes after ordering but I can guarantee you that quality is not affected here as they properly do it in batches and as so many people are ordering it still remains fresh and perfectly steamed or fried. Even when questioning food items the staff were more than willing to get a reply for us even if they did not know the answer themselves. Waiters kindly offered to take a photo of us all when I took my camera out and made conversation with us.

First to arrive were the siu mai, har gau and scallop dumpling and they came looking greaseless and plump. The siu mai even went the extra mile with crabmeat on top for that extra creamy seafood taste. All three of them were faultless. Generous filling of fresh prawns and the scallop perfectly steamed to still be bouncy and springy,. They were all full of flavour and not overloaded with colouring or msg as they weren’t brightly coloured and I didn’t find myself quenching for water. The rice wrapper around the har gau and scallop dumpling were just right in thickness, perfectly sticky without being gooey and held the prawn filling and scallop finely with ripping apart. They were more than good.

Next came the fried taro croquettes which were recommended by other bloggers for being extremely crispy and a favourite of theirs. I couldn’t agree more, they were not just crispy but also greaseless and the taro filling itself was extremely tasty still with its flavour and although soften well they still came in slight chunks for that extra texture. Nice.

However they were not my favourite dim sum of mine as mine had to be the mini baked char siu bao. I don’t believe you can find them anywhere else in London except in Princess Garden of Mayfair. They're fab! That perfect coating of sweetened glaze, light & airy so when you bite, it collapses into a sweet & savoury quality lean char siu without that artificially sweetened taste or colouring but real generous stuffing of pork. The bun has that extra chew to it to blend in with the perfect ratio of meat to it creating something quite satisfying to eat & maybe another one.

Then also did the same kind of bun with a custard filling too and just as satisfying but on a different level. The filling was really yokey, smooth and not the custard you may be used to as it had a different sweetness to it and I’m guessing it was coconut cream or milk. The bun itself was called pineapple custard bun known for the top crunchy crust made from sugar, butter, egg and flour to add that extra texture and sweetness to the bun resembling the shape of a pineapple hence how it got its name. Crunchy, flaky, soft sweet bun, smooth, sweet filling...I couldn’t have asked for it differently.

Patience, quality and attentive to detail shines in this restaurant and you can tell from it’s Turnip cake. Unlike most chinese restaurant who deep fry the cake to speed things up these were pan fried to bring out the flavours making it that extra fragrant and smokey at the bottom. It also meant they were greaseless, soft and fluffy.

Even my favourite dim sum of all times, the beancurd roll were the best I had. Usually I’m biting into a sponge of grease but once again these felt clean and into a filling of fresh crunchy vegetables of carrots, bamboo shoots and more and all flavoured well in its stock. The beancurd had all the usual texture of being quite smooth, slightly elastic but steamed perfectly so it was still very moist and not tough at all.

Mum’s favourite dimsum had always been the stewed black bean chicken feet and Princess Garden gave it that extra depth of flavour it needed with the taste of five spice. It was stewed to the right timing so it was just falling off its bones without being too mushy. Perfectly spiced too in a well seasoned and flavoured sauce made it very moreish.

Near towards the end came the two most talked about dishes in Princess Gardens which were the cuttlefish cheung fun and crabmeat e-fu noodles. Dad was even surprised they went through all that effort to fry the cuttlefish and then wrap it up in rice paper roll in such a busy restaurant and do it so well. The cuttlefish had all the wok energy needed, flavoursome, bouncy and fresh wrapped around a thin yet perfectly steamed smooth rice pastry wrapper. I doubt you will find this dish anywhere else in London.

If I had to order any main dish in Princess Gardens it has to be the crabmeat E-fu noodles a. I can eat this everyday if given to me. In any other restaurant I've had e-fu noodles they tend to be mushy but these were fresh, incredibly bouncy, covered in a light but very flavoursome seafood broth from real crab meat that was so tender they would just fall apart in your mouth. The whole thing just slip into your mouth effortlessly with the perfect companions of mushrooms that added that extra flavour & depth. So good!

Finally came our dessert dish which were the thousand layer cake. I had to savour every layer as there were not a thousand but like 5. These were so light and fluffy held together by some thin layer of sticky sweet goodness that slowly diminishes into my mouth, melting away. You can also be creative with the way you want to eat these. Once again I have not seen these anywhere in any other dim sum restaurant.

I’m sorry I wrote an essay but Princess Garden of Mayfair is too good for me to miss out any of their highlights. To round things up I will definitely recommend their baked buns in both varieties, cuttlefish cheung fun and crabmeat e-fu noodles just because I will doubt you’ll find them anywhere else in London. Of course you can’t go wrong with ordering any of their dimsum as they are all just scrumptious.
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Lamchowder - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Saturday, April 07, 2012

the dim sum is great, the waiters hover too much

the toilets are still a disgrace , not sure why they havent sorted this out after the tv show

i dont get why such a great restaurant allows their facilities to be so bad. do they expect none of their quests to go to the toilet ?
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richard
5 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, September 20, 2011

I took my Dad here for his birthday after hearing that the dim sum was good. Overall the dim sum variety was good and the taste was ok but I would say, not as refined as Royal China. However, I will never go back because of the service. On arrival we were told to sit at a table only to be told seconds later by another waiter to go back to the waiting area and then a few seconds after that to go sit at our table again. Throughout the whole meal, I was constantly lent over by the waitresses adding and removing dishes from the table who kept pushing my chopsticks whilst I was eating. We did not stay very long but throughout the whole meal, all 6 of us felt rushed by the waiting staff who kept lingering by our table to take nearly but not quite empty plates and even asked us at one point if we wanted to take the last dumpling from one dish so they could take away the plate. We were also discouraged from getting dessert because "the queue was very long" and to top it all off, they brought us the bill before we had asked for it. The restaurant is also lacking in ambiance. I would not go here for a special occasion again.
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Avid London Eater
5 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, March 15, 2011

This place was great, just got back from dim sum. We are Royal China fans (Bayswater for about the last 10 years, but Canary Wharf branch too).

However, this place was good. Not quite as good as RC Bayswater when it's hot, but it was good.

Also special shout out to the 1000 layer sponge cake dessert - oh my GOD this was good, you HAVE to get it, best damn cake i think i've ever eaten!!

Restaurant is a little noisy, and had to ask for water 5 times from 4 different people but service is generally convivial and well meaning.

Seriously though, GET THE CAKE!
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Dave
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Saturday, January 15, 2011

Princess Garden’s dim sum gets a resounding ten out of ten from me but the a la carte menu can be a little hit and miss. My Peking duck was greasy and the skin lacked the crispness, which you normally associate with the dish. If this is supposed to be the restaurant’s signature dish then emergency handwriting lessons are in order. What’s more, they served the duck with soggy, heavy crepes rather than with light Chinese pancakes, which made the experience even more unpleasant.

However, Dim Sum aficionados are in for a real treat. Princess Garden does the basics with great finesse and specialities with the flair you would normally expect from top Hong Kong dim-sum chefs. The char siu buns are delightfully light, the Shanghai Dumplings hold just the right quantity of stock and the turnip cakes are fragrant and fluffy.

What a pity that Princess Garden quite can’t quite up its game a little, though. It is unquestionably a destination of choice for an enjoyable Dim Sum lunch but there are better Chinese restaurants in the vicinity for an evening meal.
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Dragon - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Thursday, January 06, 2011