A friend sent me some internet clickbait proclaiming the 10 best Dim Sum places in London, for he knows this is very much my thing. And I fell on it like a starving person eating his fellow shipwrecked passengers, only to be disappointed. Which would cover most tourist experiences in Chinatown. You've got to doubt any review that doesn't mention the Royal China chain, yet includes that place in The Shard that Giles Coren gave 1/10. Internet twaddle.
Besides, it missed the point. The real beauty of dim sum isn't any Michelin starred over-priced fussiness and reverence. It's the slow unravelling of an afternoon with friends, hours which should be unctious and fried and never ending, cheap enough to stand several bottles of house red, and forgiving of terrible table manners and loud voices. Off-piste morsels of lusciousness sourced from unexpected parts of animals are added bonuses, before pouring yourself into the fading light of a late Chinese afternoon, giggling, naughty, replete and generally in love with the world.
We had a great one a week or so ago in Chinatown despite ending up in the wrong restaurant entirely and the food was generally awful. One a month keeps the doctors away...
Besides, it missed the point. The real beauty of dim sum isn't any Michelin starred over-priced fussiness and reverence. It's the slow unravelling of an afternoon with friends, hours which should be unctious and fried and never ending, cheap enough to stand several bottles of house red, and forgiving of terrible table manners and loud voices. Off-piste morsels of lusciousness sourced from unexpected parts of animals are added bonuses, before pouring yourself into the fading light of a late Chinese afternoon, giggling, naughty, replete and generally in love with the world.
We had a great one a week or so ago in Chinatown despite ending up in the wrong restaurant entirely and the food was generally awful. One a month keeps the doctors away...
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