Pearl Liang
8 Sheldon Square London W2 6EZ
Nearest Tube: Paddington
3.9 Yummy Stars
Price ££ dim sum £3.60-£5.50 at lunchtime; separate evening dim sum menu (more expensive) and separate a la carte menu (at time of writing)
Scallop dumplings at Pearl Liang
Buzz Factor 4/5 stars
Food 3.8/5 stars
Value for money 3.9/5 stars
Pearl Liang sits in Paddington Central, which has a lovely enclave of restaurants and other shops in a big enclosed space. The place particularly at lunchtimes has a buzz to it, with people milling about. On a nice day, plenty of people sit out, enjoying the open space, secluded from the outside world.
You enter the restaurant and are met with a sizeable eye-catching bar and a goldfish pond. The fishpond is normally regarded by Chinese people as good Feng Shui (transliterated to mean “wind and water”). It is a system of positioning your surroundings in such a way so as to bring harmony. The décor still has a certain charm, though appears slightly weathered since it first opened years ago. Gone are the tablecloths and big solid sumptuous chairs with its former uber glamorous feel. Now a more informal but nonetheless sophisticated (though rather jaded) look.
The service was adequate and pretty informal. We managed to get the attention of the waiter/waitress whenever we needed during our dim sum lunches, even though it was pretty busy.
Most of the dim sum is quite good here and we particularly liked: har gau (prawn dumpling), barbeque pork puffs with its flaky pastry, chicken and Chinese (salami-like) sausage with glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf (the lotus leaf adds extra flavour to the rice), turnip paste (turnip with Chinese sausage and dried shrimps which were well fried with a slight crispiness) and egg custard tarts. The xiao lung bao (Shanghai dumplings) were rather disappointing, as the wrappers were rather too thick. I would concentrate on the Chinese offerings rather things like the Thai Tom Yum soup which was not particularly authentic nor tasty. You wonder why they stick a Thai soup in the middle of a dim sum menu. Confused.com? Just go for the dimsum.
Definitely worth a visit.
If you are interested in learning more about dim sum, you might be interested in reading my dim sum blog under Yippie Blog.
