Dim Sum at Phoenix Palace

Posted: May 3rd, 2010 | Author: Bernie B | Filed under: bernie b ate, bernie b eats out | Tags: baker street, bernie b, best dim sum, chinese, chinese restaurant, dim sum, london, makemeonebernieb, phoenix palace, restaurant | No Comments »

Where’s good dim sum? That’s always a question people ask each other. It can depend on what type of experience you want really. Do you want the high class luxurious service of Hakkasan, or a rowdy kitsch decorated one in Chinatown like New Worl with their trolley dollies? Phoenix Palace situated on Glentworth Street near Baker Street Underground Station has a bit of both. The place is decorated with ornate Oriental interiors bordering on the kitsch side, but because of it spaciousness it isn’t too overbearing, and I quite like that. Some Chinese restaurants now tend to opt for a more modern look or are a cheap Hakkasan/Yauatcha copy, sometimes I want that old school Chinese look. Phoenix Palace has competition from it’s more famous Baker Street neighbours Royal China and Royal China Club (modern look ones!!!), but for value for money/food tastyness ratio I think Phoenix Palace wins.

I’ll just get on with what I ate now.

First up, one of my favourite dishes and done very well here is Chicken Claws in Rice Wine Marinade. They are the best I have tasted, because you can actually taste the subtle fragant aroma of the wine whereas usually you just get a hint of alcohol. This is a cold dish for those that love textures in their food, I love biting off joint by joint and nibbling off the skin, tendon and cartilage, savouring the crunchy, springy, hard jelly textures which you don’t get from a slab of meat. These come with some Chinese sweet pickles which are so mouthwatering and wets your appetite for the food to come.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls were good, just what I expect them to be. Minced Prawn and Pork wrapped in rice paper and deep fried, served with a sweet chilli fish sauce. I usually prefer these than normal spring rolls, just because I like the dipping sauce more and you need spring rolls when you go Dim Sum.

Cheung Fun is like the Chinese Cannelloni. Common fillings are Prawn, Minced Beef, Barbeque Pork, Monks Vegetable mix and Fried Dough Stick. I tend to go for the Scallop or Fried Dough Stick as Prawn is used in most Dim Sum dishes and I don’t fancy the rest. The Scallop Cheung Fun was a let down. Scallops were tasteless and there wasn’t enough Coriander in it. It was altogether very bland (it looks it even in the picture), with the sauce served on the side so the Cheung Fun couldn’t even have a little soak in that.

The Prawn and Chive Dumplings were a better effort. Prawn and Chive Dumplings are my favourite dumplings, sweet Prawn and pungent Chinese Chive so flavoursome. The dumplings here could have done with more Chives as the filling was on the stodgy side due to meat/Chive ratio being too heavy on the meat side, but on the whole it was good. The skin was light and translucent which made the meat heavy filling stand out more, it just needed to have a slightly looser lighter filling.

Shanghai Dumplings, hmmm, ok. You expect them to be soup squirting juicyness. I did eat them as soon as they came to our table so they didn’t dry up. There was some soup in the dumpling and the taste was nice.

Besides your classic Dim Sum, Phoenix Palace do offer some more creative dishes. Wasabi Prawn Dumplings are in the Specials section. They certainly stand out with their green skins, didn’t think the curly Parsley was needed here, but there it was. This is like a hot Har Kau (Prawn Dumpling). Wasn’t sure about it. The skin was thicker and tougher, probably due to the green herb/veg used. Biting into the dumpling you suddenly get a Wasabi hit piercing up your nose. This is something that shouldn’t happen when you eat sushi, so why have they decided it was a good idea to put it in a dumpling? Also the Prawn’s sweet flavour was totally lost because of it.

The Cold Tossed Baby Octopus in Chilli, Lemon & Garlic Sauce on the other hand worked so well. It was mouthwatering and hit all the right notes. The Sauce was like a Salsa, so refreshing but at the same time that Chilli giving you a good kicking. The Octopus was delicately cooked, so it was tender, and when you bit into it, it’s juices merged with the sauce. There was so much depth to this dish. I want some more now!

Back to the classics, Glutinous Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf. I wish restaurants would bring back the original big size. These new “jewel” size ones may look cuter and easier to distribute and probably save on costs, but you don’t get that excitement anymore when you dig in to one. With them being small, there tends to be less filling and the rice layer is less thick which equals less tasty. Here the rice was too mushy and ended up tasting like a paste. Filling was decent in taste, but because of the size you don’t get much in it, I expect good lumps of meat, Chinese Mushroom, Chinese Sausage wrapped in a sticky pillow of rice.

Big Bun stuck by it size and it was magnificent. The bun big enough to hold all the ingredients in it’s filling, Chicken, Prawn, Chinese Mushroom, Egg and Chives. The combination worked very well, everything complementing each other. The bread itself, hot, light and fluffy. It was such a joy to eat.

The Suckling Pig with Jellyfish was the piece de resistance. Only available at the weekend, we were so lucky. Hand turned spit roasted, it was a delight to eat! The skin was so crisp and light, it crumbled and melted on the tongue. Meat was juicy and tender with good rich flavour. The Jellyfish made from fresh was a unexpected joy, most restaurants serve factory produced ones. You could really tell the difference, it was so less rubbery and had a sweeter tang. Thinking about it make my mouth water!

I would have preferred to end with the Suckling Pig because it was so good, but then it would be weird talking about the dessert first (although I have eaten dessert before main meals before and it wasn’t bad). Anyway, we ordered the Black Sesame in Gluten Balls as it was a favourite of my friend’s when she Dim Sum’s in San Francisco. It was slightly different from her San Francisco version. We felt it could have done with more filling, there was only a sliver of it. Usually you expect the Black Sesame to be oozing out when you bite into the rice ball. It was nice, the crunchy chopped peanuts and coconut worked well with the googeyness.

If some one asks me where’s a place for good Dim Sum, I would say Phoenix Palace. I always enjoy going there because it has that quality of an old school restaurant, but without the cramp busyness. I like that they have a very broad menu, all the classic dishes and newer inventive ones. Dim Sum dishes start from £2.60 making it much better priced than it competitors without losing on tastiness. You do have to choose right, there are some hits and misses, but the friendly staff will offer suggestions of their specialties. What’s more, they have very clean spacious washrooms.

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