Winter sun! Don’t you just love it? My little cousins have recently moved to London from Jamaica and can’t get their heads around how it’s so cold if it’s so sunny! The coldest weather spots are always by the water, but don’t let that put you off getting down to Canary Riverside for something filling and spicy to warm you at Royal China.
Word got around that I like me some dim sum and Royal China Canary Riverside invited Eve and I to put their lunch dim sum selection through The Small Slice taste test. There are five other locations but I think this is the prettiest one.
The Royal China restaurants offer traditional Hong Kong Chinese dishes. There was really only one test needed to know if this place was the real deal, and they passed with flying colours. Those pork puffs. I will just never get sick of them. They are the absolute best when they’re fresh out of the oven as these were. Flaking buttery pastry wrapped around a solid portion of honey sweet pork.
I was thinking of making ‘eat less pork’ a 2018 resolution of mine, but really Harleigh? I just don’t know if I can. Just look at this honey roast pork cheung fun. Eve wasn’t a fan of the texture of this particular type of dim sum, but I don’t discriminate.
Our final dim sum selection was the prawn and chive dumplings – a classic. Each Royal China branch has their own specialist dim sum chef who makes the dim sum on site, hand folding every dumpling.
On to our mid course. Quarter crispy duck pancakes of course! Italians eat a fish-based mid course, which gives you a nice light break before your meaty secondo, but I’m a fan of keeping the meat coming!
For our main courses, Eve and I opted for sautéed prawns with red chilli sauce (Szechuan style), crispy shredded beef in bird’s nest, and Royal China lotus leaf rice. Beware, the red chilli sauce is hot! I’m a spice fiend and thought they were delicious (I’ve actually been back to Royal China since this visit and re-ordered them) but Eve couldn’t handle the heat.
Hopefully you’re able to visit on a day as clear and bright as ours to watch the river bus go by from your table, and give the central London skyline the photoshoot it deserves.
Book a table at any of the Royal China restaurants using the details on their website.
