To be honest, even before I had arrived in London, I had had mushy peas on the mind. Which is why it is ironic that my first British meal was going to be dim sum in London. The thing was, immediately after I was done drooling over my mind-blowing room at the Royal Garden Hotel, I realized that I hadn’t had a proper meal in over 10 hours. I was hungry. NOW. So, we headed up to the 10th floor, for some Asian cuisine…and a cocktail (I am on vacation after all).
We plopped down in Min Jiang’s cushy bar chairs and were taken aback with our view of Kensington Palace and Hyde Park.
The view would have been the same if we opted to eat at the ritzy adjoining dining room. But, casual lounging is more my speed. Besides, the bench seating allowed me to press my nose against the glass. I am sorry to person who will have to Windex that after I leave.
Though I had read rave reviews about the authentic Beijing Duck (₤55.00), it was one big bird. And I still had a mushy pea quest in my near future.
Instead we opted for the Steamed Dim Sum platter (₤13.50), which arrived looking like a colorful piece of art. Being that this was my first every dim sum experience, I had absolutely no idea what these dumplings would be stuffed with, if anything at all.
I made Peter try each one first, I don’t like my taste buds to be too surprised. You see how helpful he can be?
Each delicate dumpling was filled with fresh seafood. I almost forgot about my mushy peas.
Of course, to commemorate my arrival in England, dim sum in London couldn’t be the only treat, a cocktail was also in order.
The Canton Ginger (vodka, amaretto, lime, fresh ginger, apple juice, ginger ale) was exactly the crisp cocktail that I was looking for.
From the look on Peter’s face, he was jealous that all he ordered was a beer. He should be.
Now, it was time to walk off my slight buzz and dim sum belly. Hmm…Hyde Park is right outside the front door. I guess that will just have to do.
Have you ever had dim sum in London? Or anywhere else?
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Looks delicious! I've never been, but I've heard that while British food is often criticized, there really are some fantastic ethnic eateries in London. It looks like you found one.
This was just the beginning of a bunch of great food in London 😉
That looks great! My favourite dim sum dish is this one called shumai which looks like this:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3095/3128216701_71481ca88f.jpg
It's so good! My first meal in London will probably be curry, haha. i love indian food!
Holy Crap, that dim sum looks amazing!!!
I've never been to this restaurant. When I lived in London, I went to the chinatown everytime I craved for chinese food.
My fav dim sum is steamed BBQ pork bun 🙂
I didn’t make it to Chinatown when I was there 🙁
But, next time I’ll be sure to go and have BBQ pork bun!
How fun! When I was in Europe I noticed their Chinese/Asian food was WAY different than in America–in a very good way! I didn't have dim sum, but I had my first taste of Indian food there and it just hasn't been the same over here.
I missed out on the Indian food in London, it’s difficult to get my husband to eat any ethnic food 🙁
[…] TRAVEL & EXPLORE After eating my first ever dim sum on my first ever day in London, it was time to go for a stroll. Peter and I walked out the front […]
[…] eating my first ever dim sum on my first ever day in London, it was time to go for a stroll. Peter and I walked out the front […]
That looks soooo good!! I only had Indian food in London. I guess it's one of these cities where you can get all kinds of food that are served just as you'd actually find them in their "home countries".
I missed out on the Indian food!
[…] ass-backwards. Normalcy tends to bore me. Why would that change while traveling? Just as my first meal in London was Chinese Dim Sum, my first dining experience in Spain was Italian. With Sangria. […]
[…] things ass-backwards. Normalcy tends to bore me. Why would that change while traveling? Just as my first meal in London was Chinese Dim Sum, my first dining experience in Spain was Italian. With Sangria. And it was […]
[…] my first meal in London was Dim Sum and in Barcelona is was Sangria at an Italian restaurant, there was no way in Hong Kong my first […]
[…] eating my first ever dim sum on my first ever day in London, it was time to go for a stroll. Peter and I walked out the front […]
[…] ass-backwards. Normalcy tends to bore me. Why would that change while traveling? Just as my first meal in London was Chinese Dim Sum, my first dining experience in Spain was Italian. With Sangria. […]