One of the rituals I’ve developed since living in the UK is a Sunday bout of dim sum to catch up with my sister. I have my list of favourites, yet there is always room to try something new, and something new we did today. Hidden around a back, quiet side street of Baker Street tube station is Phoenix Palace, one of the more upmarket Chinese restaurants I compare to places like Royal China, or Princess Gardens. Upon entry, I was a little suspect of the place with the entire reception filled with anyone but Chinese people (not a great sign), and was relieved walking into the larger dining area in the back that it wasn’t just the latest in westernised dim sum restaurants.
Both standard and dim sum menus appear diverse, and even though wasn’t particularly thrilled by some of the prices on the dim sum menu, the interesting combinations of unique dishes definitely mean a repeat visit for dinner another time. Other than a listing of very standard dishes catering for both Chinese and non-Chinese tastes, they had a whole other section devoted to game meats with everything from ostrich, wild boar, kangaroo, springbok, hare and more. Some of those dishes with very exotic sauces, others just combining with a classic Chinese sauce. With our dim sum, we tried the pan fried kangaroo in black pepper and honey sauce (£14.80).
For dim sum, we indulged in our favourites as well as a few new twists including prawn dumpling with wasabi paste, garlic spare ribs with cheung fun and liquid gold custard buns. Overall prices in this place are much higher than other Chinese restaurants, and the serving size on the less generous scale. As you can see, the highly sought after BBQ pork buns are on the extremely small size. As you can see from the picture above, the wasabi-infused prawn dumplings really stick out with their iridescent green skins. Unfortunately they lacked the kick that I’ve had before with this variation (I think it has to do with the wasabi being over-steamed at some point)
Admittedly, my favourite dish of the day ended up being the kangaroo. It’s sauce was light enough not to be soaking into everything yet not thick that it coated everything too thickly. Its honey flavour did not have an overpowering sweetness you might expect typical of a Chinese restaurant with the tiny bits of pepper creating a good contrast with the kangaroo meat, and its very distinctive flavour. It also impressed me that a Chinese restaurant on the other side of the world can cook kangaroo in such a light delicate manner than biting off small mouthfuls was an easy affair – not an easy task with a meat that is easily overcooked to a leathery texture. Although I still question it’s value at that price, I would definitely recommend it again.
In contrast, the garlic spare ribs cheung fun was a staggering £5 for what ended up being a combination of two dim sum dishes without any extra effort. The garlic spare ribs seemingly poured over four small doughy cheung fun, that whilst fresh, easily could have been so much better and definitely not worth the hefty price.
We ended our meal with their special liquid gold custard buns, one that I had guessed would be steamed rather than baked. We ordered these at the end, unsure whether or not we could depend on the restaurant to keep it hot and served only at the end. Unfortunately that seemed to backfire a little and they took their sweet time getting it to the table (but at least it was fresh). At £1.80 per dumpling (that’s right, the two-bun dish costing £3.60), we treated each as its own little pot of gold. Unlike other custard buns, the insides were slightly runny though calling it liquid is a little bit extreme. Each bit also seemed to have a slightly scratchy texture as if the sugar in the custard had not completely melted. Not bad overall though.
The total damage came to a startling £42.20 (when we normally spend about £25), something that we guessed by ordering so many unique dishes. Service remained decent throughout the meal, although I definitely wouldn’t say that it exceptional service. I wouldn’t recommend this place for a regular dim sum, although I would return here to try a more unique Chinese dining experience.
Details: Phoenix Palace
Found at: 3-5 Glentworth St, London, NW1 5PG
Contactable on: +44 (0) 20 74863515
Highlights: Unique dishes in a fairly busy yet comfortable dining scene with bright lighting and modern décor.
Room for improvement: Even standard dishes seemed more expensive than other Chinese restaurants.
The Kua Rating: 6.5 out of 10
