Tipped

Back in love with Chinese food

May 08, 2008

We recently discovered Pearl Liang through rave reviews and a 'best of chinese' in London and was so suprised that is just down the road from our house at the sterile Paddington basin. No doubt attracting a large work crowd at lunches, we went along on a Saturday and the place was about 80% full by 9pm.

I ate A LOT of chinese food as a teenager. My dad sang every weekend at a Chinese restaurant in Sydney and he always brought back food, so I overdosed on the stuff by 16 and swore never to eat it again. Since living in London I've enjoyed the trendy delights of Yauatcha and Hakkasan but whilst delicious (former) and over-rated (latter) to me these places were not true cantonese style chinese food.

So what a pleasure Pearl Liang is. The food fantastic. We ordered way to much and stuff it all down. Salt and pepper squid and scallops for starters were spicy. Peking duck, pancakes etc were wonderful and served at the table with panache. Char sui pork melted in my mouth and the egg fried rice was the best I had tasted in years (or ever). I think the rice was prepared with beef or chicken stock so be warned vegetarians, but the flavour it provided was fabulous. Prices were reasonable and to me so much better value than earlier mentioned Hakkasan. Most of all the service was delightful - the chinese staff were attentive and the little touches as they delivered the food were lovely.

So whilst the location is a bit strange, its worth the trip. I am sure you will enjoy it. I have to go back and try the dim-sum!

Tags: chinese

Great Dim Sum

February 17, 2008

Finding Pearl Liang was a bit of a challenge: Sheldon Square is not exactly square but more of a complex of office buildings, and Pearl Liang is nestled in the wall at the base of the public outdoor amphitheatre. It is directly behind Paddington Station, but it takes a few twists and turns to get there - instead we got lost and wandered the canals of Little Venice for a while until we oriented ourselves.

Once you do manage to get there, you're in for some delicious food in a surprisingly stylish and large restaurant. The dim sum is delicious and very reasonably priced - we had a huge Chinese New Year meal with a ridiculous amount of food of all varieties that just kept coming, and it ended up just under £20 per person, very reasonable for the high quality and the amount of food. If you go, be sure to check out the bathrooms - the challenges are 1) finding the unmarked semi-invisible door to the bathrooms, and then 2) deciphering the strange cartoonish figures on the doors that make it completely unclear which bathroom is which. I chose poorly.

Tags: chinese, dim sum, private parties