Review: Pearl Liang, Sheldon Square, Paddington

At last! I've found a place that does great dim sum in central-ish of London!

Barbecued pork in puff pastry - good meat

My favourite place to have proper authentic dim sum is still The Lotus - the floating restaurant in Canary Wharf. But Pearl Liang is up there for a more sophisticated style of dim sum.

I came here for lunch and it was the best lunch I'd had...ever - since working in Paddington. Paddington is growing into a more modern area outside of its train station to cater for the ever-growing offices and even though Pearl Liang has been around for a while, I've never thought to pop in for lunch until my cousin suggested it.

One of my favourites - fried turnip cake/pancakes

As you know, I'm quite snobby when it comes to eating authentic Chinese food, but the food we had was exceptionally good. We were both very impressed. The food was good quality and you can tell they use fresh ingredients and everything is cooked fresh too. The service was very quick, although we were stood by the waiting area for a while before anyone formally acknowledged us.

Of course - steamed buns are a must, or 'bao'

I'd like to compare the lunch service to dinner though, and compare the prices to full main dishes, as it looked fairly pricey from the menu, whereas we spent £30 for seven dim sum plates which is pretty cheap considering. I might even think about taking my parents here if they were to visit - now that is high praise.

RATING: 4 out of 5

A new one - wasabi and prawn dumpling

Sui Mai - with lots of meat

As an added extra - we had to get the egg tarts. So fresh and delicious!

Easy peasy chicken wings

By far the easiest sauce I've made, inspired by Jamie Oliver (he calls it the Gangnam style chicken wings, Gangnam is actually a place in South Korea, and I think these ingredients are more influenced by Chinese cooking).

All you need is:
chicken wings
honey
soy sauce
chilli sauce (if you don't fancy spice - use ketchup and fresh chilli - manly for decorative purposes)
garlic
ginger
spring onion
sesame oil
lemon juice
sesame seeds

I haven't put down amounts because, quite frankly, do it to your taste and how many wings you're cooking and the amount you want on your wings.

Preheat oven at 160 degrees. Give your wings a bit of a wash, and stretch each one so they are not so compact (this will help the wings cook evenly). 25-30mins should be enough but check the meat around the bony areas to double check. If you like your skin a bit crispy, turn the heat up in the oven for the last 5 mins.

Whilst that's cooking, chop garlic, ginger and chilli into tiny edible pieces. In a bowl, mix in all the rest of the ingredients, including your chopped goods - keep tasting to find your perfect match. Remember soy sauce is salty so don't add too much in all at once. I quite like the sweet taste on chicken wings, so I added more honey and chilli to mine.

Once happy, pour the sauce over your chicken wings making sure it goes into every nook and cranny of your wings. You can leave a bit to one side to serve as part of your dish if you want to dip your wings in. Put back into the oven for 5 mins, or until you are happy with the colour of your wings.

Serve with boiled rice and some pak choi.

And as they say at home "sek fan" (literally translated - "eat rice") and tuck in!

Seafood Banquet anyone?

When Chinese people say they're going to celebrate with a meal, what we really mean is a banquet, a 14 course banquet across several large round tables with the turning table in the middle.

I thought I'd say it with less words for this post. Enjoy. I certainly did.

1: the cold seafood platter - crispy pork, chicken, octopus, seaweed

2: Bird's nest (edible of course), chinese veg & squid

2 & 3: 2 different types of cooked scallops 

4: 'Shark fin soup' (crab substitute of course)

5: LOBSTER!

6 & 7: Sea mushrooms and veg & Chicken

8: the fish course

 9 & 10 were the noodles and rice courses but you've seen them all before.

11: CAKE!

12: There's always the fruit course 

13: Mango and coconut jelly cubes

14: Chinese buns with egg yolk filling

THE END. Phew.

2012 best bits

Just a few homemade highlights from last year...Here's to 2013!

Vegetarian cottage pie

Japanese beef and mirin sauce

Homemade fish cakes with broccoli and salmon

Chinese Almond cookies

Gingerbread butterfly biscuits

Pizza dough

Paella and chicken wings

Savoury muffins with bacon

Chinese soy sauce chicken

Watercress, onion, mozzarella and egg pizza.

Chinese breakfast: congee and savoury churros.