Having ranted about chain restaurants the other day, I not only repeat the gesture two days later, but I do it in the restaurant right next door! In my defence, I didn’t realise it was a chain until I visited their website and after I’d already arranged to meet there.

Despite having eaten there before, I felt a little trepidation, as I’d noticed a number of recent reviews making negative comments, most describing the service as being very rude. I have to admit that my dining partner and I had no issues at all with the service. The serving staff don’t try and be your best friend, but who wants that anyway?

Many of the positive comments regaled Royal China as having the ‘best dim sum in London’ and I’m glad to say that these comments were far closer to the truth than the negative ones.

Having been given free rein to order for the both of us, I chose Lobster & rice wine dumplings, Pork & Radish dumplings, Spare ribs in Black Bean sauce, Fried Squid Paste, Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Royal China Cheung Fun and last but not least, Whelks in XO sauce. All the dishes were excellent and although I was a little suprised at the chewiness of the whelks, I soon got over that (whelks are usually a bit chewy, apparently). The Squid Paste was more like a Thai fish cake, but made of squid, and was much tastier than the name suggested. My favourite dish was the pork and radish dumplings, although the spare ribs were a close second, despite being rather inelegant morsels to eat.

The main menu looked a little pricey but the dim sum were very well priced, most being £2.40 a pop. Eschewing the alcohol, the bill turned out to be a very reasonable £15 each. I would definitely recommend going here for the Dim Sum and whilst I can’t be sure it’s the best in London, it certainly isn’t far off. Unfortunately, as it seems to be with most Chinese restaurants, the Dim Sum is only available from midday to 5pm, so remember to get in early!