Location: 43-45 Oxford Rd, Reading, RG17QG

Web site: http://www.chinapalacereading.com/

Telephone number: 0118 959 6683

Date of last report 6 October 2009 (several)

Date of this visit: 27 October 2011

Approx. cost per head: £15 plus

Cuisine: Chinese – Cantonese

Likes and dislikes: Probably one of the the best authentic Cantonese restaurant in the UK if you stick to the dim sum and main a la carte menu. Avoid the all you can eat and set meals.

Beers and wines: £3.20 for Tiger and Tsing Tao. Mediocre wine list.

Summary:

I haven’t been to this restaurant for well over 6 months. It was doing very well and on a weekday lunch was about half full.

The menu is always the same and prices are the same as last year.

The dim sum starts at £2.70 a dish.

We had char sui chung fun, prawn dumplings (har gaw), char sui puffs, char sui buns – yes char sui in 3 different ways – dry fried beef hor fun , yam croquets and garlic pea shoots. They were all good. The total bill including drinks – coke, tiger beer – and service came to £60.

Since the redecoration 4 years ago, the place is beginning to look a bit worn but the food is still good. Compared to my recent Chinese encounters (Princess Garden and Wing Tai), this place is definitely superior in terms of the standard of cuisine and service. Prices are about the same. Parking is in West Street Mall – beware of narrow lanes leading up to the car park – just wide enough for a MPV.

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Address: 8-10 North Audley Street, London W1K 6ZD

Telephone: 020 7493 3223

Website: www.princessgardenofmayfair.com

Date of visit: 2 October 2011

Costs: Dim Sum from £2.60 per dish. Certain main courses around £30-£40

Wines and beer: Did not check – I was a guest – but it won’t be cheap as this is Mayfair

Likes and dislikes: Nice restaurant, decent food at a decent price but the waiting – despite booking – is poor.

Cuisine: Chinese – north and south

Summary:

This is a very modern and chic restaurant south of Oxford Street. Bright and noisy. Everyone seems to shout in a Chinese Restaurant irrespective of nationality. On the day we went (Sunday lunch), the place was full of Chinese but there were a significant number of non Chinese eating lunch. I was told that the clientele and atmosphere is completely different on a weekday evening.

There is a lounge/bar and two separate dining rooms.

They make you wait in the lounge despite having booked empty tables in the restaurant – is this a ploy to sell drinks? On the day I went, most people were drinking mineral water or tea so the ploy is questionable. It certainly isn’t due to a lack of staff as there were plenty.

This was a lunch to celebrate a relative’s birthday. There were 7 adults and 2 children.

We went for the usual array of dumplings – sui mai, har gaw – turnip cake, chung fun etc. They were all very good. The pot sticker was big and fat but was not crisp enough at the base. We also had crab meat fried rice – they do not do fried rice with char sui – and pork julienne fried noodles.

Princess Garden is supposed to be a Northern Chinese Restaurant and they do have unusual dishes that you will not get in a normal Chinese Restaurant e.g. Chinese smoked fish.

The total bill including 3 ching tao beer and two glasses of dry white and 2 juices came to just over £140 and we all had plenty to eat.

The food here is above average and is certainly better than most of the dim sum establishments in Soho. I rate the food here as better than Kai’s – which has a Michelin Star – down in South Audley Street.

 

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Address: North Circular Road, Park Royal, London NW10 7TN

Telephone number: 020 8838 3388

Website: www.hoohing.com

Date of visit: 8 Dec 2010

Approximate cost per head: Around £5

Comments on wine list/beer: No alcohol served. Soft drinks and tea under £1

Summary:

The Park Royal Branch of Hoo Hing Chinese supermarket has a cafeteria (opening hours: 12.00-16.00). Hoo Hing is a big chain and has stores in Manchesters, London, Milton Keynes, Birmingham etc. This write up about is about the Park Royal Branch.

They serve dim sum (from £1.70) to plates of rice with roast meat (£3.95) or won ton soup (from £2.15) at ridiculously low prices.

There are several branches of Hoo Hing. The one in Park Royal is on the north bound side of the North Circular less than a mile from Hanger Lane Underground station. There is a reasonable size car park in front.

The supermarket is pretty basic offering the usual range of sauces, rice, noodles, frozen products and fresh products. The range of food is pretty limited for the size of the place. For example, See Woo in Lisle Street offers a much large range despite the fact the it is less than ¼ the size of Hoo Hing. Hoo Hing offers all the essentials at a reasonable price. They also have a fish counter, a large range of cooking implements including electricals and a Chinese furniture department.

The cafeteria is upstairs and you sit on lovely Chinese rose wood furniture – prices are pretty good. The menu is highly limited. The Dim Sums are straight out from the packets they sell downstairs but there is virtually no mark up. Prawn Dumplings (4 for £1.70) is about half the price of Chinese Restaurants in Gerrard Street. You can buy the frozen version at £3.70 for 8 pieces.

The dim sum menu is limited to 22 varieties nearly all steamed. They do deep fried won tons but no spring rolls and they also have no chung fun on the menu. Re the one dish meals, again no stir fried. You can have Cantonese roast duck on rice (£3.95) or soup noodles (£3.95). There is no service charge and none is expected. The place is clean and there are clean toilets.

You have to order and pick up your food at the kitchen counter. The ladies behind the counter are friendly and smiles a lot. Oh, by the way, no beer or wine. You can have tea, coffee, coke or 7 UP. The most expensive drink is 70p.

I can’t see how they make a profit in the cafeteria. Maybe it is just a service to their staff and customers.

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Address: 1 Gerrard Place, London W1D 5PA

Telephone number: 0207 734 0396

Website: N/A

Date of visit: 14 September 2010

Approximate cost per head: £10 plus. Dim Sum from £2.40 per dish

Comments on wine list/beer: Chinese beer £4 a bottle

Summary:
New World must be one of the oldest (established) Chinese Restaurant in the area. The others are possibly Mayfair and Wong Kee.

When I was working in London (around St Paul’s Cathedral), I used to come here on a regular basis as you can be in and out in 15 minutes. The reason is that they do dim sum on trollies at lyunch time. You sit down, take what ever you want from the trollies that came by and eat within a minute of being seated.

It has been at least a decade since I was last here. Very little has changed – they now have a newish carpet which must be at least 5 years old.

I was there at 2pm which was a big mistake.

By then, the dim sum on show must have been the ones that haven’t been able to sell (since 11.30).

This time I was there for 20 minutes. The same 4 trollies kept coming round with the same food on it.

I had spring rolls and prawn toasts that have gone slightly soggy – still warm and a basket of shau loong bau (sometimes called Shanghainese soup dumplings). The shau loong pau had no stock/soup within the pastry skin and was surprisingly dry.

With a Tiger Beer, the whole bill came to £13.70 (without service). The annoying thing about this place is that they do not itemise the bill so you will have to do your mental arithmetic before to ensure that the bill is correct.

They also do rice and noodle dishes – much loved by chinese students as its is cheap and filling – from £4.50. Other dishes are available but at lunch time you have to ask to see the a la carte menu.

It was an awful meal and I wished that I have gone somewhere else.

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Address: 59-63 Queensway, London W4 4QH

Telephone number: 0207 229 6065

Website: N/A

Date of visit: 13 June 2010

Approximate cost per head: £10

Comments on wine list/beer: basic wine list, Tsing Tao beer £2.90 per bottle

Summary:

This restaurant has been around for over 30 years. I used to eat here on a regular basis in the 80s as it’s one of the few decent (authentic) Chinese (Cantonese) restaurants outside Soho that served dim sum. It was easy to park in the evenings and at weekends along Hyde Park.

At the beginning of 2008, the place suddenly closed down – was it a tax or debt problem? It re-opened some three months later under “new” owners. The staff were exactly the same. (Updated on 27 July 2010 http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100727/tuk-mouse-jumps-from-bowl-in-restaurant-6323e80.html .Well, that was bad news!)

I have not been for a few years and was looking forward to visiting it again.

The place looked nearly the same – the only change being at the back near the staircase – there is a new bar/serving counter.

The menu  looked different to what I remembered.

We had spring rolls (£3.80) and deep fried won ton (£6) , chicken with onion and ginger (£7.20), mixed meat BBQ (char siu, belly of pork and roast duck) (£8.00), choy sum with garlic (£7.20), special fried rice (£5.20), crispy noodle with chicken (£5.50 and Ho Fun Malay Style (£6.50). With a couple of beers, coke and tea, the bill came to £70.20 with service.

Let start with the positives, the service was efficient, friendly and quick, the food cheap and some of the dishes were very good – mixed meat BBQ, choi sum, fried rice and noodles.

However, the starters were poor, the deep fried won ton hardly had any fillings within the skin – we were paying £8 for a plate of deep fried won ton skins. Fresh won ton skins are £1.50 for 50 sheets in a Chinese supermarket.

The spring rolls used to be good here but its now the frozen type that you get in a Chinese supermarket. How can I tell? Factory prepared samosas and spring rolls have a somewhat mushy interior – this allowed the machine to pipe the content into an envelop (skin). Hand made ones are dry inside and the ingredients are shredded not chopped. The next disappointment was the Ho Fun. According to the Chinese characters in the menu, it’s chow kwai tu. This is seafood ho fun cooked in a curry paste – similar to Singapore noodles. However the version we got was dry fried ho fun (normally with beef) with a few prawns and chillies added. The colour should be yellow because of the turmeric but this version was brown. When I asked the manager he said that this is their version. Well, I hate it when restaurants sell you bastardised version of something and did not clearly state it in the menu.

Was the meal overall all right – I guessed so but this is not the restaurant I used to know.

 By the way, they still serve dim sum during lunch time.

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Category: Cheung Fun

This is the slippery white rice pasta that comes with all sorts of fillings and is covered with a sweetish soy based sauce. Unlike lasagne, instead of being layered, it is rolled with the filling in the middle. The pasta can also come plain or with cut up bits of spring onion and dry shrimps incorporated into the pasta.

At China palace, the prices are as follows:

Prawn Cheung Fun                                                       £4.10

Roast Pork (Char Sui) Cheung Fun                               £4.10

Beef (minced) Cheung Fun                                            £3.00

Deep- fried Dough Cheung Fun                                    £3.00

The deep fried dough is worth a special mention. Its Cheung Fun with what the Chinese call yu tew. The nearest thing to it is churros in Spain. So in this dish, you get both the soft and crisp texture. Cheung Fun is always steamed never boiled – it breaks up.

These dishes are only available during lunch time or for breakfast. I have never come across it in the evening in any Chinese Restaurants in the world even ones that offer dim sum all day.

Category: Others

 

Name: Baked egg tarts

Chinese name: dan tart

Price: £2.30

Summary:

This is Chinese custard tart. The difference is that the custard is enriched with egg yolk and the pastry is more like flaky (puff) pastry.

Under dim sum, you can also be offered pots of rice, congee (rice porridge) – just boil rice in plenty of water till the rice disintegrates, mixed meat platter (char sui, roast duck and crispy belly of pork) and occasionally suckling pig.

Enjoy.

I have nearly all the recipes. If you want to try making it, do write in and I will let you have it. However, please note that all sorts of dim sums are now available frozen so hardly anyone (except restaurants) make them. In fact I suspect that half of them simply warm up bought in frozen dim sum.

The only one worth making is spring roll and it is very easy. Just buy the pastry skin (frozen) from a supermarket and then put in any sort of filling that you fancy and finish it off by deep frying.

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Please note that the price is for guidance only – it is what China Palace charged in July 2010

Continuing a review of Dim sum – using the menu on offer at China Palace, Reading.

Catergory: Fried and Grilled (usually shallow fried  in a grill pan)

Name: Yam Croqueuttes       

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Woo kok                   

Price: £2.60

Description:

This is a must try dish. Finely chopped pork and mushroom is bound in a rich dark sauce. This is the covered in Yam mash and then rolled in finely shredded yam and deep fried – similar to what deep fried shepherd’s pie would be like.

 

 

Name: Fried Prawn Dumplings with salad cream                

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Har kok                   

Price: £2.80

Description:

Prawns wrapped in a pastry case and deep fried. There are normally 2 versons. A normal pastry case or a rice pasta skin similar to Fun Kwor. Inside is similar to Har Gow (the har gow skin does not deep fry well).

 

Name: Deep fried spring roll Vietnamese style                     

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                 

Price: £2.60

Description:

There are several types of spring rolls – the difference is: the skin and fillings. Vietnamese’s spring roll and Thai spring roll uses rice paper as a skin (not as crispy as the Chinese version which is flour and water). They also contain rice vermicelli in the filling. With Chinese spring roll, it’s normally shredded meat (chicken or pork) with shredded vegetables. Sometimes prawns are used but this is a modern version. With northern spring rolls (e.g. Shanghai), cabbage is added. Curry spring rolls and chop sui rolls are western inventions and is normally only served in fish and chip shops. Spring rolls should also be thinnish – finger size. Chop sui literally means mixed bits and was invented by Chinese Coolies working on the US Railway several centuries ago.

 

 

Name: Minced Squid Cake                

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                     

Price: £2.80

Description:

This is similar to a Chinese fish cake – prawns, fish or squid. The “fish” is fincely minced and then made into a thick paste with flour and water + seasoning. It is then formed into balls or fish finger shape and cooked in boiling water or fried. The version in China Palace uses squid.

 

Name: Grilled Prawn Bean Curd Rolls                     

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                      

Price: £2.60

Description:

Bean curd is very versatile. You buy it in sheets (dried). After soaking in water, it becomes soft. You can the add any sort of fillings, roll it up spring roll shape and steam, fried or deep fried it.The fried version is crispy on the outside yet soft on the inner layer.

 

 

Name: Deep fried vegetable meat buns                    

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Shan cheen choi yuk paw                     

Price:£2.80

Description:

This is actually not deep fried but grilled (2 sides) of a bun with minced pork and pak choi filling. The shin is similar to char sui paw. Please note, in certain restaurants, this is served steamed – its is then simply called choi (vegetable) yuk (meat)  paw (bun).

 

Name: Mixed meat croquettes                      

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Harm sui kok                   

Price: £2.50

Description:

This is a strange piece of dim sum – like char sui paw, it is both sweet and savoury. The skin is made of sweeten glutinous rice flour. The inside is a savoury meat mixture – similar to that used in yam croquette. The resulting product is crispy on the outside, sticky on the layer just beneath the crispy bit and savoury and slightly runny on the inside – work this one out!

 

 

Name: Won Ton (deep fried)             

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                      

Price: £2.50

Description:

Won ton is minced pork and prawns with chives, wrapped in a dough skin and is usually boiled and served with a broth or noodle soup. The deep frying produces a large crisp skin.

 

Name: Pan fried Turnip Paste                      

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Law bat koh                  

Price: £2.50

Description:

This is made by mixing mashed turnip with flour and water. To this dry shrimps and Chinese sausages are added. The “cake” is then steamed, cut up into sliced and fried.

I have not come across many westerners that likes this first time – it’s an acquired taste.

 

Name: Grilled Pork Dumplings (pot stickers)                       

Chinese Name (Cantonese): War tip                   

Price: £2.50

Description:

Minced pork (can be minced beef or chicken) in a dough  skin that is fried in a frying pan.  In the case of China Palace, they add prawns to the pork mixture. After 5 minutes – do not disturb the dumplings, a small  glass of water is added, a lid is then put on the pan – this allow the rest of the dumpling to be cooked in the steam. The pan frying gives the dumplings a crispy bottom.

 

 

Name: Roast pork puff                      

Chinese Name (Cantonese):   Char sui sow                  

Price: £2.50

Description:

The contents of char sui paw in a puff pastry – baked.

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Dim Sum in Chinese literally means touch the heart. Now a days, it means snack size and not main course size.

Traditionally, Dim Sum is only served till mid afternoon. It is eaten at breakfast, lunch and as a fill me up before dinner. There are many types and are very different between Southern China and Northern China. Most of the dim sum available in the UK originated from Canton although one or two of the northern dim sum has made it onto the list. For example, steamed Shanghai dumplings (sometimes called soup dumplings) and pot stickers (grilled dumplings) have become part of the dim sum offerings in this country.

This article is based on the dim sum menu at China Palace (Reading). I have only included the more common ones which should be available in any Chinese restaurant that serves dim sum.

Please note that each portion normally contains 3-4 dumplings.

Category:  Steamed

 

Name: Glutinous Rice Dumpling                   

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Nor Mai Kai                    

Price: £3.20

Description:

This is made up of chopped up chicken cooked  a soy sauce based sauce. The chicken is covered in glutinous rice, wrapped in lotus leaves and steamed.

Name: Seafood bean curd skin roll               

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                      

Price:£2.80

Description:

This is mainly prawns in an oyster sauce, made into a spring roll shape using bean curd skin – steamed. Bean Curd skin is more texture than taste.

Name: Prawn Dumplings                  

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Har Gaw                   

Price:£2.80

Description:

Whole prawns wrapped in a light rice based pasta skin and steamed. In certain versions, chopped bamboo shoots are added to give it a slight crunchy texture.

Name: Welks in curry sauce              

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                      

Price:£2.80

Description:

Exactly what the name says.

Name: Prawns and chives dumplings                       

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Fai Choi Har Gaw                    

Price:£2.50

Description:

Same as prawn dumplings but with the addition of a lot of chives

Name: Minced pork dumplings                     

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Sui Mai                    

Price:£2.50

Description:

This is an open top dumpling with a minced pork meat ball surrounded by a pasta skin. In certain version, crab and prawns are added to the meat ball

Name: Steamed dumplings Chiu Chow style            

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Fun Kwor                  

Price: £2.50

Description:

Same type of pastry as used in prawn dumplings. The Chiu Chowstyle is filled with chopped up root vegetable and will come slightly crunchy. In certain Chiu Chow dumplings, prawns are added (not here)

 

Name: Steamed Minced Beef Meat Balls                   

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Knaw Yuk Yeun                     

Price:£2.50

Description:

Finely minced beef meat balls.

 

Name: Steamed Beef Tripe with Ginger and Spring Onion                           

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Knaw bat yip                   

Price: £2.50

Description:

Exactly what the name said.

Name: Spare Rib in black bean sauce                       

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                      

Price: £2.50

Description:

Chopped up spare rib – bite size with the bone still in – in a black bean sauce.

Name: Spicy Chicken Claws in Black Bean Sauce                

Chinese Name (Cantonese):Fun Chow                

Price:£2.50

Description:

Exactly what the name said. The Chinese eat for texture and they like squid, skin etc. Chicken feet is mainly eaten for the skin around the foot.

Name: Roast pork bun                       

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Char Sui paw                 

Price:£2.50

Description:

Char sui in a bun. If it’s in pastry its char sui sow. The slightly sweet sauce with in is based on oyster sauce.

 

Name: Steamed Shanghai Pork Dumplings                                      

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Shui loon paw

Price:£2.50

Description:

Minced pork with chives and ginger to which soup jelly is added. Therefore when the dumpling is cooked, there is liquid (melted jelly) within the dumpling. Beware, you can burn your mouth if you eat this straight from the steamer.

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 Part 2 – fried dim sum

PS I’ll offer some dim sum recipe later this week including the easiest way to make char sui.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name of restaurant or pub: China Palace

Location: 43-45 Oxford Rd, Reading, RG17QG

Web site: http://www.chinapalacereading.com/

Telephone number: 0118 959 6683

Date of visit: 4 October, 2009,  re visited 23 October 2009

Approx. cost per head: £15 plus

Comments on wine list/beer: Run of the mill (ethnic rerstaurant) wine list , mark up is around average

Review:
This restaurant is one of the few outside London that serves authentic Chinese Food. This is made possible because of the large Chinese population in and around Reading. They serve dim sum at lunch – right up to nearly 4pm. Dim sum are small plates of mainly pastry wrapped food e.g.spring rolls.

Just to confuse the customers there are a whole range of menus. Avoid at all costs the fixed price lunch @£7.50 and the eat as much as you like at £15 rising to £16.50 over weekends. This is “take away” food. There are two a la carte menus- a bilingual bound one and a pink sheet written entirely in chinese.
In the a la carte, go for the seafood and the salt and pepper style food.There are some interesting dishes on the “single sheet” which I recommend that you try. Get the manager (Albert) to translate.

Update : 23 October 2009

The restaurant was packed tonight as a result of a tour group from China – what they arte doing in Reading on a European Tour is beyond my guest. As aresult of this, the kitchen was under performing to night.

We asked for the salt and pepper dover sole but got something entirely different – still pretty tasty. The chicken in black bean sauce turned out to be chicken in a ginger sauce with a couple (ok, less than 10) black beans. Rest of the meal was fine. Service was good.

Eddie – eddie@bottlesandcooks.com