Plum Valley

Just went there for our Chinese New Year meal. We arrived 30 mins early just to be sure we got our table. Told the receptionist our name, she said the number of people on their record wasn’t as many. We told her that we increased the amount of people and called twice during the week to make sure and everything was ok (Which they said was ok on the phone). All she said was, «Nobody bother to update the record…». She looked frustrated (And so did we). Then another staff came, the receptionist told her the story about no one updated the book. Then pulled a face and off to do whatever she was doing.
We were shocked by her attitude and said to the other staff and she said customers had been complaining about this particular receptionist regarding her attitude.
Receptionist came back, said she would fix it. We waited and «luckily» another big group cancelled their booking, so we got our table. She apologised and we hoped she realised her bad attitude.
We ordered our food about 7:30pm. We waited quite a long time and nearly an hour later the soups came. The portion was small for that price, but most importantly, it was in room temperature. Some ordered hot & sour soup, some ordered West Lake beef broth. However, the beef broth tasted like hot & sour soup with a bit of beef. No one was impressed with the hardly warm enough soup. Shortly after one appetizer arrived (Yes, one). Again, it was slightly warm, we were not happy about it and we had no idea why only one little dish arrived.
We waited and waited and waited, it was already gone past 9pm. No food still. Talked to the manager and she gave us the typical answer, «Sorry, we are very busy.» After that, a junior staff (who looked like 12 years old), came and told us they had no more Peking Duck. Oh great! Told us 2 hours after we placed our order.
We requested to talk to the manager again, and then, as you might guessed, «We are very busy today.» Look, Plum Valley has been in business for years, how many CNY they’ve been through. They should have known better. Then the manager said the kitchen messed up our order, they put our order on the last (somehow), blah blah… Not impressed!
The thing was, from the receptionist to the serving staff, they just kept blaming others. We were not interested in hearing the inside stories. Plum Valley was supposed to be the more upscale contemporary Chinese restaurant. Service didn’t meet the standard.
After all the complains, the food came. Again, some of them were slightly warm, I still couldn’t believe we paid that much for such food. Some other dishes were hot and some tasted good. But then we couldn’t tell if it was because we were too hungry or the food actually tasted good…
The table next to us said that some dishes they ordered were not available and the manager said would gave them dessert to make up for it. They waited and waited and at the end, the manager told them they ran out of dessert. So, no dessert for them.
It was such a lovely way to celebrate CNY. Yaay!

I am setting up this Unilocal account solely for the purpose of giving my review on this establishment! The service was poor and rude, the food overpriced with measly portions. We found ourselves in a match of survival of the fittest encased inside this dark humid boiling cave. To add insult to injury the famous crispy peking duck, a Chinese New Year tradition, they had run out of, but wait, they did not inform us of this until 2 hours after our order was placed. At this point it got real, we lost our temper and complained, they tried appeasing us with free dried and chalk like chicken washed down with overly acidic white wine. Then to top it all off we had to wait 2 hours for food to arrive! I would not wish this dining hell upon chairman Mao himself!

Came here with a large group on a Friday night for an 8pm booking. Unfortunately we arrived at 8.03 and they had already given our table up, so we had to wait 45 minutes to get seated. Not the best start. Fair enough we were a tad late, but it would have been better if the staff were a little more pleasant about it.
Food was pretty good, highlight was the crispy duck salad. Definitely would order that again. But otherwise, it was pretty standard middle to high end asian fusion.
Very overpriced — but you can expect that in soho.
Service was slow. Waitresses were rushed and impolite.
At this price, you’d expect both the food and the service to be a little better.

Very good, tasty food. My favorite dish which we had were the cod dumplings. A very different, delicious, take on cod. The portions are small so expect to need to order a lot of dishes. Décor is very modern and nice. Nice lunch in Chinatown.

I love the ambiance of this place. You order off a menu and they make the dim sum to order. The menu items range from the classic to the unique. Presentation is just gorgeous. This is a pricey dim sum establishment, but well worth the money for the experience and taste adventure.

We usually visit for KTV with food inclusive. Lobster noodles are nice, we also like many other Chinese drinks here. Other dishes are not bad, a lovely place to party and reunion, Karaōke is sooo important to Chinese social life and that’s why we love it. Slightly more expensive than others but it’s ok to share with friends.

I had dinner here on a Sunday night as I was looking for an all-​night dim sum restaurant. I am very fond of dim sum as I have grown up with it in a Chinese household. Upon entering, the waitress asked if we would like anything to drink and after inspecting the menu for my usual tea which costed £3.80, I asked for tap water. She replied by scoffing and going to another waiting staff and mocking the fact that my group wanted tap water. When our dim sum arrived, the waitress yet again was strikingly rude. She commented in Cantonese that the other people in my group did not know how to speak Cantonese, despite them being of Malaysian and Vietnamese backgrounds. It is bad enough to bad mouth paying customers behind their back, but doing it in their mother-​tongue, in front of them is crossing the line. When the waitress realised I had been speaking Cantonese, she began speaking Mandarin to continue mocking us.
Onto the food, the ha gau tasted like it was from frozen and the siu mai skin was rough. Compared to other restaurants, the rice rolls seemed empty. The bill came up to £35 for 5 dim sum dishes and a dish of rice. Completely overpriced, below average on the taste and horrible hospitality from the waitress. Please AVOID.

Had dinner here Thursday evening, July 23^rd. Was our first time in London in over a decade, and had hoped to go to our favorite Chinese restaurant but discovered that it was long closed. So, we started to look for an alternate, and ended up here based on reviews, menu, and its appearance.
Plum Valley certainly has a very attractive exterior and interior. Much more welcoming than many Chinese restaurants. But after that, most things left us wanting.
Food was okay, but portions were small. Not what you typically run into at Chinese restaurants. We couldn’t understand why they were looking at us oddly when we ordered a few items for the four of us. After the items arrived we realized why they looked at us oddly, as each was a very small portion, and not really set up for sharing as you would normally expect to find in a Chinese restaurant.
We actually found the menu to be somewhat limited in choices.
It would be very unlikely we would go back, and probably would try one of the other Chinese restaurants out in China Town or elsewhere in London.

Went today with a business acquaintance and loved it. Was not sure whether to go, does not fit the China Town look and feel, much more faux fancy. Had dim sum for lunch, though, and thought it was great. The dim sum had much deeper and more complex flavors and was not at all greasy.
Among the dim sum that we loved were venison dumplings (prepared like pot stickers), pork bao (bun), spring rolls, shrimp wasabi dumplings (great combination of flavors), and fried pork pastry. Everything was great and a little different.

Typisch chinesische Küche in Chinatown. Kein all-​you-​can-​eat. Schönes Ambiente. Nicht billig. Kleine Toiletten.

I have been looking to find a go-​to Dim Sum place for a while now, but while I have a place for soup dumplings (Leong’s Legend) and just a quick dumpling (green place at the corner) I have struggled to find a place where I just can’t decide what to order because everything sounds delicious. Now I have found it. My all time favorite BBQ pork buns were deliciously sweet and juicy, the Chilly Shrip dumpling were yummee, and the venison and fois gras deumplings were a good surprise. Only disappointment was the eal in rice roll. Could barley taste the eal… it totally dissapeared in the rice. What a shame

Something about this place just seems off. It is white tablecloth dining in Chinatown and it is only slightly more expensive than other Chinese. It just feels like it is trying too hard to be something other than a dressed up Chinatown restaurant. The service is better than other Chinese restaurants but far from say Hakkassan. The décor is dark but seems dated for some reason. That said it is really the only dining option of its kind in Chinatown. A good date place. The food was fine and mostly Chinese with some other Asian bits thrown in. Everything we had was good if not memorable.

I wish I could give a 3.5 stars, but as I’m not completely sold as a fan I’ll go for a 3-​star rating.
We had reserved a table for a group of twelve at this restaurant and a £100 deposit was required. When we arrived, the table that was prepared for us was a round table in a corner booth on the first floor, which was entirely too cramped to be reasonable. Our elbows gnashed throughout the meal, which was otherwise enjoyable.
I was initially a little taken aback by the prices — £9.80 for a plate of morning glory is entirely too steep for my liking. I would have liked there to be more differential prices between vegetables and meat dishes, so on this front I find that there is a poor value proposition. The vegetarians in our party who ordered the tofu were served with a hefty portion of salty and one-​note marmite-​like dark firm smoky tofu, which if I hazard a guess can be purchased at any one of the local Chinese supermarkets and sliced up and heated through. The white rice we ordered was of poor quality and poorly cooked — chipped, dry in some parts and gummy in others. Very disappointing for this rice lover.
However, most of the (meat) dishes were outstanding in value and quality. I particularly loved the braised pork belly, which came with two fried buns and two steamed buns for that extra satisfaction. The classical cooking here displayed in the rich-​but-​not-​greasy soft folds of porky fat encased in the soft steamed bun was exemplary. The Plum Valley roast chicken was excellent and I highly recommend it with some rice on the side — the skin is crisp and the fat rendered. The beef hor fun was delicious and charred with the beef marinated in something that left it flavourful and tender despite being cut remarkably thin. Perhaps a tad greasy but fat is flavour after all. Salt and pepper squid in a tempura-​batter lost its crispness after sitting a little, but the squid portions were generous albeit perhaps seasoned with something akin to MSG (that taste is too familiar…). I was not a fan of the tea-​smoked ribs, or the wasabi prawns as they were a tad too sweet for me, but the ribs were tender and the prawns large and juicy, so your opinion may vary.
I’m probably being a little harsh on a very respectable meal with some genuine highlights, but Plum Valley does need to sort out its service, which is currently not remotely close to the high-​end restaurants of Hong Kong and Asia. Tables should be already set with rice bowls, water should be offered upon seating, and the peanut and pickle dishes should be refilled. The lack of consideration for seating yet the demand for a £100 deposit seems pretty ill-​conceived on their part. This is a mixed review, but I will return and hope that given different circumstances I will get some good rice and service.

This place serves very western-​oriented Multi-​regional Chinese food.
We had spicy shrimp in green curry sauce. Excellent, the plum valley house chicken, also excellent. Dim sum selection, very good. Some bok Choy too.
Atmosphere very sophisticated yet great for families and kids. Def recommended for a moderate priced dinner.

I’ve always been avoiding Plum Valley because I thought it was too touristy and just too much for China Town. But last Sunday I had a huge craving for noodles and, to my surprise, it’s actually quite hard to find good veggie noodles in Soho.
So I did the ‘no shit Sherlock’ thing and headed over to China Town. I was with a fellow veggie and he suggested hitting up Plum Valley. All in all, the food was good and they had more veggie options than most places. They even did a really decent ficken (fake chicken) which had that crispy/​chewy texture that I miss. Service was nice, we had a lovely seat by the window and food was good — hence 4 stars.
It might not be very authentic, and if that’s what you’re after, it’s worth going elsewhere, but Plum Valley is a pretty safe choice.

This is a well designed and comtempory Chinese restaurant. The food available was very tasty and delivered very quickly.
Although the Waiting staff are very keen to take away dishes, often while you are still trying to eat from them. I guess this is to ensure a high turnover of tables during busy times.

Came here for dinner and the food was just okay. Went here because it was convenient and we wanted Chinese food.

Ask for the Dim Sum menu– it’s cheaper than the main dishes & served all day, no matter how late.
Scallop dumplings are my favourite– with a sliver of Gold leaf.
Thai Chicken dumplings are a spicy fusion, Har Kau are good as are Prawn & Chive, Honey Pork Bun, Vegetable dumplings, Almond King Prawn and Mandarin Fillet Steak from the main menu is worth the price.
Bangkok Dream & China Cooler are my favourite cocktails, the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is great with seafood & Jasmine flowering tea whets my appetite.
Book a table as they seem busy even on quieter nights, booth tables on the ground floor are the best– quiet & atmospheric.
Larger tables are upstairs.

Went to satisfy a craving for dim sum. While the food was fresh and generally good it’s a little overpriced — no doubt to match the trendy & modern décor. Service was friendly and prompt so no complaints there.
I’ll probably go back at some point but not before trying some of the other restaurants in the area first.

I’ve not a massive fan of Chinese food, and whenever I do have one I’ll normally have crispy duck and chicken with black bean. my boyfriend has wanted to do Chinese in Chinatown ever since I met him so we finally decided to do it last Friday evening. we first ventured into a restaurant called Tao Tao Ju but when we sat down and looked at the menu our appetites diminished quite quickly (fish guts and duck tongue are not my favourite dishes). Plum Valley looked like the safer option with both crispy duck and chicken in black bean on the menu. The duck was as good as you’d get in any Chinese restaurant. The chicken however was quite dry, I think they had reheated it (it definitely wasn’t fresh). The starter of mixed appetizers was as you’d expect — breaded, breaded and breaded. It was like an average Chinese takeaway, only double the price.

I really liked this place. Only downside is that I can’t seem to track down a menu online. I’ve been here twice and both times we were seated on the second floor. The setting is a bit dark and pretty romantic, if that’s what you like.
The service was good, aside from some wait time when we wanted to order fresh drinks. A great assortment of food (though with so many options available that it can be overwhelming to actually settle on a dish).
Is it a bit pricey? Yes. But it made my vegetarian belly happy (and my partner’s meat eating belly as well).

Dieses Lokal verbindet erstklassige chinesische Küche mit sehr stylischem Ambiente, eine Kombination, die man in Deutschland nicht findet. Unser Hauptgericht war schon sehr lecker und aufwendig präsentiert. Die sechs Dim Sum waren dagegen außergewöhnlich gut. Hier sollte man unbedingt reinschauen, wenn man nach Chinatown kommt und sich mehr als das übliche allyoucaneat Büffet leisten kann.