Dim T

This isn't a Michelin starred restaurant, it's a chain Chinese fusion restaurant. I've eaten here numerous times with reasonable service (don't expect Silver Service) and tasty food.

One time the waiter forgot to put our order through so gave us as much Dim Sum as we could eat on the house which went down very well and with a view as good as this we couldn't complain in waiting.

I've had worse service at places like Chez Gerard and been lied to by the waiter when they forgot our order (and no apology or free food either!) and you expect good service and are paying for it!

Overall I've been back about 6 times now (going again at lunch today) and so far the food has been great. The service reasonable; always with a smile and for the price of about £12 a head for main meal, prawn crackers, a shared Dim Sum and a drink you can't really complain.

If you want Michelin quality and service go and pay their prices, I'm happy paying for Dim-T.
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Craig M
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, July 30, 2007

My wife and I made our way to this restaurant last night with just a little trepidation. Earlier in the day, when wanting to find the exact location of Dim T in More London, I'd come across the previous review by Adrian.

What to do? Friends had booked a table for 8pm - it's definitely not good manners to stay away... we could fein illness perhaps? - Maybe invent a domestic disaster?.... anyway, we decided to give it a go. If you expect the worst, perhaps something mediocre would be quite acceptable..... nevertheless, Adrian's comment "Probably the worst Asian restaurant I have ever eaten in" continued to haunt us.

On arrival, the restaurant was less than half full (apparantly it doesn't get that busy at weekends). Our friends asked that we be seated upstairs (to be recommended). The room had a nicer feel to it than the ground floor and our window table, having a spectacular raised view of Tower Bridge, was worth the cost of the meal alone! None of us are Dim Sum fans, so at least we'd be eating something different to Adrian.

For starters we ordered 2 crispy duck salads and 2 bang bang chickens and whilst they might not have impressed Gordon Ramsey, both dishes were tasty and well presented. For mains, we had 2 lemon chickens and 2 sticky chicken with cashew nuts. Again, perhaps we've had better, but it was enjoyable and certainly a notch up from the "canteen food" Adrian described. We concluded perhaps it's the Dim Sum that's the problem. Maybe the "Westernised" chinese food we'd eaten is well within the restaurant's capability, whereas cooking Dim Sum for a knowledgeable client like Adrian is something they can't handle?

Only 2 of us had desserts and although the frozen berries with white chocolate sauce was nice, the better choice proved to be fruit with a chocolate dipping sauce - something just a little different which hit the spot - it was gone in 2 minutes flat!

Turning to the service, our Eastern European waiting staff were keen to please and very pleasant. On the downside there were language difficulties and drinks were a little slow to appear when ordered - but overall service was satisfactory.

Finally, what of the cost? Well, we had a round of drinks before the meal, 4 starters, 4 mains, 2 desserts, a bottle of red wine, some soft drinks during the meal and coffee afterwards. The bill came to very acceptable £97 (excluding service), which I have to say represents one of the best meals I've ever had in London as regards value for money.

The final relevant question now..... would I go there again? You bet I would - but again would chose the weekend. Apparantly during the week it does get very busy and I can see there might well be service issues should the waiting staff we met be put under pressure.
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JT
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Sunday, June 24, 2007

Just had a great night out at Dim T in More London.

Firstly the location is fantastic with views of Tower Bridge that make it quite romantic. The food was as I expected..cheap and cheerful asian food. I had the Chicken lettuce wrap which is delicious and a duck salad which was equally yummy but the menu is extensive and you can choose from all your asian favourites. Generous portions, a good ambiance and adequate staff made it a very enjoyable evening. The best part is that you can have a very nice meal for £15 a head - beat that!!
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Juce
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Friday, June 15, 2007

Probably (if not) the worst Asian restaurant I have ever eaten at. The waiters were polite, the decor was lovely, it was just that the "chef" (if that is what he purported to be) was obviously unused to cooking Chinese food!

My standards for Chinese food are relatively high, having a Chinese mother and having lived in China for a few years. However I think that even someone who had never eaten Chinese food would be put off this place.

Funnily before going into the place I had remarked to my girlfriend that its almost impossible to mess up dim sum. Even in the worst places (where they buy their dim sum from the frozen food section in Chinese supermarkets) the food is very edible and of a reasonable price. But when our dim sum arrived, it was soggy, the ingredients had been chopped too fine and they all tasted the same. A big disappointment. Furthermore the chilli sauce that accompanied the dim sum was the wrong kind.

Moving onto the mains (of which I now did not have much expectation), dim t did not disappoint; they were awful. My beef wrapped in lettuce leaf was very poor and the vegetables were a disgrace. The problem with the beef was that it had no "chinese" flavours to it. It was just stir fried with a couple of red peppers. It was something I would probably expect from the office canteen not from a restaurant. And as to the vegetables; they were soggy with oil and fat. To be honest all the food smacked of canteen food (and substandard canteen food at that).

If management were sensible then they would look to change the chef and the menu. Its tired, formulaic and not done well at all. They need to get someone involved who knows how to cook chinese food, rather than some underpaid catering chef who can just about follow a recipe but even that seems to be a problem.

This place is cooking by numbers in its worst incarnation.
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Adrian
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, June 12, 2007