Royal China

great service from Royal China. all dim sum were good, however i want impressed with the classic ‘birds nest’ dim sum.

This I don’t understand. Admittedly, my rating on this restaurant is skewed because I’ve experienced nirvana time and time again at Royal China Baker Street (London’s finest Chinese Restaurant), but Three Stars? Are you *kidding* me with this nonsense? This is by far the best dim sum restaurant in SE London.
Have you *not* had the soup dumplings (Shanghai Pork Dumplings)? You bite into them and soup pours out all over the place. It’s made from pork collagen or something. It’s like having marrow explode in your mouth and replace itself with a meatball. You have NO idea what you’re talking about sub 4 star reviewers — NO IDEA.
Have you even tried their shu mai? Yes, they all kind of stick together. Sure, the roe (or whatever the hell that orange stuff is on top) is melted into the wrapper. Eat it. It may come as a surprise to you that something so simple and so plain could trigger such a deluge of memories and feelings from times long lost.
The second it touches your lips you will feel a shudder run through you as pleasure invades your senses, isolated and detached with no suggestion of its origin. Retrace your thoughts all you’d like. Revisit the moment at which the small and seemingly innocuous dumpling first touched your lips. You may just be able to bring back the feeling, lest it be lost forever. Chase that dragon. Go on. Eat 4 of them. Then order more.
3 Stars? You’re all nuts. I’ll see you here on Sunday afternoon.

I had an impromptu dinner here mid week. The menu has a great selection and variety, including some dim sum for dinner (dim sum are traditionally reserved for lunch). The service was friendly and attentive. The food was relatively good, not too salty which bodes well. I went for the super Western choices –the sweet and sour chicken however had too many peppers and pineapple and not enough chicken. The fried rice had an ok mix of meat and vegetables but pretty standard. The kailan (chinese spinach) with oyster sauce was fresh but a bit hard. The spring rolls were tiny but plentiful. Overall, it was an ok meal but not something I would especially make a reservation ahead of time for.

You know you’re going to get good dim sum if you go to any of the Royal China’s around London. I have to admit the quality of the food varies depending on location — as I find the one in Bayswater always exceptionally better than the others but they always deliver on quality.
The place is pretty small — and even if you book on the weekend, you may have to wait a bit but definitely make a booking if you plan to go on the weekends. It is really smaller than I expected. If the weather is nice, it would be lovely to sit outside in their garden.
We ordered the typical dishes, such as har gow, siu mai etc. All standard good quality dishes. The quail was an interesting choice along with the mince prawn fried rolls which are quite unique. We also had the shanghai noodles which was quite good but were so full at the end.
Service can be a bit patchy. The servers can look a bit frazzled at times but you will eventually get served. Once you order, the food comes out quite quickly. But hey, I’ve learned never to expect great service in Chinese restaurants but that’s just me!

Really good food! This is a good place for people who want to have a full meal and a bit of dim sum. I really loved the roast honey pork buns! My favorite! The roast Cantonese duck doesn’t quite measure up to other places I have been to.

If you want real authentic dim sum and Chinese food, I’ll say this may not be the place to go. The dim sum selection is very small. You do not get alot of varieties. The dim sum and noodles are just average. Service was not good, lack of attention from the staffs. We waited for a long time eventhough we have asked to take order for food from the waiter/​waitressess many times. The only good thing is the décor which is quite nice. Price wise — definitely not value for money! I’ll choose somewhere else.

I think that the address is wrongly given as Fulham Road at the moment. Royal China is in a small side street, Chelverton Road, just off Putney High Street. It shares its illustrious name with other branches of Royal China in London but I understand that it is independent of them.
The restaurant is quite intimate and shares its black and gold design with the other Royal Chinas. They have recovered well from a kitchen fire a few years ago.
My sister and I used to come here regualrly for Sunday dim sum until we discovered Confucius, which is closer. Royal China restaurants are famous for the quality of their dim sum and this branch is no exception. The portions and quality of ingredients is first rate. The food is light (for dim sum!) and not greasy. There are a few old favourites omitted from the menu such as shark fin dumpling and siu loong bow.
The main problem at Sunday lunchtimes is the huge queue of people snaking out of the door. While their popularity can’t be helped (no booking allowed for small parties), there is a very chaotic waiting list system, which creates a lot of stress when you’re queueing as a surprising number of people try to queue barge. Hence one star off.
The evening food is also excellent but they have this quirk of not being able to order some dishes such as duck braised in superior soya sauce, which is one of my sister’s favourite dishes. You can’t pre-​book the dish when you ring to book a table — assurances are given that it will be available on the night. However, on arrival, you’re always told that they need notice for the dish to be prepared. Arrggghhh!
However, if you can live with these minor shortcomings, it’s excellent.

Smaller than some of the other versions of The Royal China I reckon this is more of a local joint — catering for Parsons’ Green and the surrounds. It’s got a more intimate feel while still keeping that black lacquered look and pretty authentic vibe.
One exception to that though — visiting this place and writing this around Christmas I did notice that they had crackers on some of the tables. Not prawn crackers, Christmas ones, with little plastic cars and key rings in them — basically all that stuff you suddenly realize you desperately needed on Christmas day.
I had the duck and the fried rice when I was here. I really like Cantonese duck, it’s always got such a great flavor and it’s not something I really eat otherwise. It’s good quality and the rice is nice too. Never ultra fried, can’t really taste the egg much, but good enough. Chinese broccoli is also great — so much better than regular I think.

I pre ordered a take away from here, and I have to say firstly the price tag (£42 for 2 people) and secondly the look of the restaurant (Beautiful interior) led me to believe that it would be a real treat. I am sorry to say I was very much under-​whelmed! Whilst the food was not bad it was distinctly average and certainly did not warrant the price tag!