Yi Ban, Royal Docks, Dockside Road, City of London, Greater London E16 2QT

Whenever we feel like having dim sum (and it's always one day before we actually eat it, that's how it is), there is an important decision to make - do we go before the crowd, or after the crowd. Where we go to depends on whether or not we're eating with friends. If we're dining alone, Yi Ban is our first and usually, only, choice.

If we're dining with friends, then it's usually somewhere in town where it's easier for everyone to get to. I think the last time I had dim sum anywhere aside from Yi Ban was at Pearl Liang (near Paddington) which was pretty good, though the portions weren't as pleasing as they could have been.

What I really like about Yi Ban is the amount of natural sunlight in this place. Dining here at lunchtime feels like I'm sitting outside in the sun, and the loud chatter from the tables around us means that it's OK for us to talk as loud as we like. The building housing the restaurant is a weird one (don't get me started on the location) as it's shared by both the restaurant, and a canoe club. Because of that, the atmosphere here on a sunny Sunday afternoon is one of happy children squeaks, tanned rowers, and families waiting for their bellies to be filled with dim sum.

Going up the wooden stairs, the first thing that usually greets me is a long queue of hungry diners waiting patiently to get a table. As the restaurant opens around 11am, getting there for 12pm usually means you're just in time to get a table before the 'yum cha' crowd arrives. As it's traditional for families to spend all afternoon sipping tea and enjoying dim sum, getting there right after everyone's got a table usually means a long wait.

So, if you miss the 12pm slot, try getting there for about 3pm which is when I've noticed most people leave (restaurant closes at 4pm so there might be a slight rush if you get there at 3pm).
We usually request a table by the window, as the husband likes watching the rowers and the stuff going on at City Airport which is just across the river. On a warm sunny day, this is the perfect place to sit around enjoying some Chinese tea, watching others do some rowing (similar to watching TV, but without the info button).

Back to the subject of food. I've blogged about this place before (here), and as with most dim sum places, placing your order is almost like doing an exam, where if you shade outside the box, you ain't getting the Har Gau. We've tried almost everything on the menu now, and what we haven't tried is probably not very good (or so I tell myself).

Favourites here are the Har Gau, and the King Prawn Cheung Fun. Recent favourites include the dessert Sesame Paste Ball (fab stuff, make sure you order it early as it takes 20 mins minimum to steam).



Century egg and pork congee (rice porridge)

One of the must-orders, this is perfect comfort food. Smooth, silky rice porridge flavoured with the meaty pork slices, and for a touch of difference, sliced century eggs. One portion is a bowl big enough to feed 4 as a taster.



Deep fried crullers (yau char kway)

Served as an accompaniment to the rice porridge - the ones here are served hot and crispy.



King prawn cheung fun

Another dish done consistently well here - as in, every time we've had it, it's been excellent. The best quality king prawns (crunchy, tender, juicy) wrapped in silky smooth, translucent rice noodles, steamed and served with a soy-based sauce.



Deep fried cheung fun

Kinda like the dish above, but without the prawns, and deep-fried. So, not really like the dish above at all, but I'm running out of adjectives.



Seaweed roll

My mom's favourite - fresh king prawns wrapped in seaweed and deep fried. These prove surprisingly crunchy and juicy when bit into, providing for a burst of flavour (literally) and textures.

Char Siew Pau

While it seemed OK to me, apparently this was no match to the ones in Malaysia. I see where it's lacking though, as the portion of filling was quite insubstantial. The bun was light and fluffy, but wasn't balanced off that well by the filling.

Prawn dumplings (har gau)

By now you must have guessed that the king prawns here are very fresh indeed. This dish is one of our favourites. Something about translucent rice paper skins wrapped around prawns. Mmm.



Scallop dumplings

Like the prawn ones, but with a different twist on the wrapper, and with scallops.



Pork and crab dumplings (siew mai)

If you've not had this before, it's minced pork with prawns, wrapped in a chewy skin.



Prawn wantan

We ordered this as my folks thought it was something else, but it was pretty good anyhow. King prawns (we love king prawns) wrapped in wantan skin, deep fried, and served with a salad cream sauce.



Steamed beef balls

One of the new orders - each beef ball is quite substantial, and consists of minced beef with something else in it to make it chewy and bouncy. Served steamed with peas, it's a nice balancing texture to all the prawns.



Mushroom and pork rolls

Finally, another one of my favourites. Described on the menu as mushroom rolls, these bean curd skins are wrapped around a minced pork, prawn and mushroom mixtures, steamed and served with a delicate gravy, and some straw mushrooms on top.



I like the fresh, fuss-free taste and really enjoy the textures in this dish.

What can I say about this place aside from the fact that we come here time and time again for dim sum. I really like the ambience and atmosphere here, and the best thing about it is, the quality of the food here has been consistently good, every time we've been here.

Jade Garden, 15 Wardour Street, London, W1D 6PH

Having been to eat around Chinatown many times before, we’d actually never noticed this unassuming little place just on Wardour Street. It could be the excitement that fills our minds when we get to Misato (just next door to Jade Garden), or the bright lights of the Japanese cake-and-all-things-cute-and-little shop also next door to this place.

When our friends C&J suggested we go to Jade Garden for dim sum, it was kinda like one of those ‘Oh where did this shop come from’ type thing when we got there.

So, Jade Garden is a small-ish (one shop) and quite cosy little restaurant, furnished in a way that makes diners (or just me) feel comfortable and not at all like we’re dining in the middle of Chinatown. Being a typical Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, they do have quite a few tables chucked into a small space, but at least they don’t make you share your table with randoms.

To place your order of dim sum, you’re given a form with numbers, kinda like what you’d find in other Chinese restaurants (or in an exam) and you tick the items that you want based on a colourful, picture-filled menu.

I’m not entirely sure what the prices are this time because our friends ordered for us (we were taking a while with the whole parking thing) so by the time we got there, the food was kinda settling down happily on the table, just like us. So, this is the Pei Tan Sau Yuk Chuk (Century Egg with lean meat rice porridge) which Jade Garden does well. The rice porridge is smooth and thick, silky and flavourful. The meat is tender, and the century egg (though not really attention-seeking) gives a nice, subtle flavour to the dish.

The Inside-Out Deep Fried Tofu Stuffed with Fish – my interpretation of the dish, as you can tell. I don’t know the Chinese name for it, and certainly don’t know the English version of it, so this’ll have to do. If the name is not self-explanatory enough, it is basically tofu puffs turned inside out, stuffed with fish paste (tender and chewy goodness mmm) and then deep-fried. It’s crunchy when you first bite into it, but then when you get to the fish, it becomes slightly softer and salty, goes really well with the sweet and sour chilli sauce.

King Prawn Cheong Fun – a must-try in every restaurant, kinda like one of those benchmark type things. The one here is pretty good, with fresh, juicy, crunchy prawns wrapped in delicate, silky, smooth sheets of rice-flour noodles. Could do with a little more sauce over the noodles because they got kinda dry sitting there waiting to be devoured, but that could also party be down to our neglecting it a little when it first got there. Lesson to self – do not neglect your food.

The Deep Fried Squid – which is fried to perfection here in a tasty batter, not too greasy. It could be improved with slightly thicker squid though, because when you deep fry something, the best bit is biting into the batter and then finding thick, chewy squid inside. It just doesn’t cut it when the squid is a thin, wry, little ring of could-be-more-chewiness.  

Crab meat parcel of something green (?) – clearly another well-thought-up made-up name by me. Loved the green skin (note – the green doesn’t actually taste of anything) but I really like chewy dim sum skins and this was particularly lovely. Fresh filling of crab and prawns added crunch and juice to the little parcels, fab.

Har gau (prawn dumplings) – another thing we order to see how the restaurant stacks up. It’s done well here. Firstly, the prawns are fresh, and fills the parcel perfectly. The skin is perfectly chewy, just thick enough, and shimmers with translucent glee just waiting for me to eat it. The first bite is chewy, and crunchy, and juicy, and so really good. The next few bites just get better.

Deep fried tofu sheets with fish mince paste – really, it tastes alot better than it sounds, partly because it’s a made up name by me, again. What it is is sheets of tofu (tofu exists in just so many forms …) wrapped around fish mince paste (chewy, fishy, tasty) and then deep fried. Dipped in what I guess is Lea & Perrins sauce, it’s a nice contrast of deep friedness and tangy, sour sauce.

Finally, to end the meal, something sweet. Hot Custard Bun – slightly different to the English version of custard, in that this is a little more buttery and eggy. When eaten hot (unlike what we did), the custard should be hot, gooey and creamy – so much so that you’d have to be careful while eating it as it’s similar to molten lava (OK fine, not similar, but a very small likeness).

Would I recommend this place? Yes, we’ve been there many times since, and while not the cheapest in Chinatown, or the biggest portion we’ve had, the quality is good and that more than makes up for the first two points.

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Yi-Ban, Royal Albert Dock, London Regatta Centre (2nd review)

Off the beaten track, some might say.

Once you’ve navigated your way to East London, and noted the lack of people in the area around Royal Albert Dock, there is still some way to go, past that glass building, under the bridge, and then you turn into the little gate sign-posted Yi-Ban and suddenly there’s about 10 people gathered in the car park.

You know you’re there when there are 10 people gathered in the car park.

You gotta give it to them, at least it’s not tacky.

The day we were there, there was some kind of boat race going on.

There was a huge queue in front of us, and I was about to go off to Tesco’s for a pre-lunch nibble, but the waitress stepped in to save the day, and showed us to our table. Admittedly, Tesco’s (or any other shop) was no where to be seen, but hey, if you’re hungry, you have to do something about it.

As with most things these days, there are forms to fill in. Dishes are numbered on the form, as well as on the menu (in the same order), and there is the option of ordering 1 portion to 5 portions of a dish. There is an example at the top which shows you how to fill a box in completely, lest you only fill half of it (in hunger) and don’t get your food.

With pen in hand, hunger in tummy, and with an almost exam-like determination, we set off to hand in that form in the quickest time possible.

Pei tan sau yuk chook (lean pork and century egg congee) £3.80

Eaten as a breakfast favourite in Hong Kong (this is based on my extensive knowledge of Hong Kong based almost entirely on the Chinese TVB dramas), this rice-based porridge is also eaten for lunch, dinner, supper, etc. Whenever you want to eat porridge, really.

This dish in specific could have been seasoned better, because even after drizzling half the bottle of soy sauce on it, it still tasted quite unspectacular. The few bits of century egg in it must have been added in after the porridge was cooked as it certainly didn’t add to the taste. The most entertaining thing about this dish was the fact that the ‘yau char kuay’ (Chinese crullers) became chewy (like how I like it) after being dipped for a bit in the porridge.

Char siew sou (BBQ pork in puff pastry) approximately £3

Like magpies to shiny objects, our chopsticks went towards these little puffs. I’ve featured these pastries previously, but never showed what they look like inside.

There, some BBQ pork feeling all comfortable in the flaky pastry.

King prawn cheong fun (rice noodle) £3.50

The king prawns in this dish were quite big, but not as fresh as they could have been. When I bit into the first bite of soft, translucent noodle, I expected the prawns to almost burst in my mouth with springy freshness. Did they burst? Nope. They just kinda went chewy and slightly mushy, so no bursting, no freshness. It didn’t ruin the dish as such, but it could have been better, that’s what I’m saying.

Pork mince with salted fish on rice £3.80 (at a guess)

We usually order the pork ribs in black bean on rice version, so we wanted to try something new. The salted fish on the description sounded really appealing, and when we ticked that box, we imagined a steaming bowl of rice covered with generous portions of pork and salty, chewy salted fish.

Did it meet those over-the-top expectations? Kind of, except for the salted fish which was a bit of a let-down. Not because it wasn’t quite a big piece of fish, because it was, but because it just … wasn’t salty.

Deep fried prawn dumplings £3

Really liked this dish. When it arrived, all hot and crispy on the table, I picked it up and bit greedily into it. As all good deep fried prawn dumplings should be, this one has bits of filling drizzling out from the dumpling when I bit into it, and steam coming out to show how fresh and hot it was. Crispy on the outside, and lovely and full of filling on the inside, marvelous.

Whelk in curry sauce £3

The whelk order in my dim sum usually satisfies the chewy-cravings. These whelks were certainly chewy, no doubt about that. Taste-wise, not as good. The curry sauce wasn’t really as tasty as the others we’d had before.

Now about the chewiness. Chewy is as chewy gets. There is a limit to how chewy something can be (even to my standards). Rubber tyres, for example, can be chewy to unlimitless extent. Whelks, on the other hand, should probably not be as chewy as rubber tyres. These kinda were.

Deep fried prawn rolls in seaweed £2.80

Lovely dish, this one. Each piece was hot and fresh. The prawns felt as though they’d just been fresh out of the tank, and the marinade was almost spot-on. The seaweed was not soggy, fried to perfection and retained the crispiness really well.

Har gau (prawn dumplings) £3

Another dish commonly used as a benchmark by us to know how good a restaurant really is. If the chef can’t make the pastry skin for this, I’d almost expect to hear microwave ‘pings’ coming out of the kitchen.

Luckily, the chef here certainly has mastered this skill, making the smoothest, most translucent, slightly chewy (fabulous) and even tasty prawn dumpling skin. That is the bit I enjoy most about prawn dumplings; the skin. I’d gladly give the fillings to someone else, as long as I get to have the chewy lovely skin. This one was really enjoyable.

Cha leong (Chinese crullers in cheong fun) £3.80

Similar to the king prawn dish above, but with a different filling. Result, this dish combines both soft and chewy textures with a crispy one. Drizzle some of the soy-sauce like sauce on the dish, making it slightly sweet and salty, this makes one of those lovely yet not overly complicated dishes.

Would I recommend this place? I would. Despite some of the dishes being not as good as they could have been, this place makes up for it by having some of the nicest waiting staff we’ve ever met in a restaurant. The restaurant has a lovely open layout, with fantastic views of the docks, and the food arrives quickly thus making hungry diners happy. What’s a few pieces of not-so-fresh prawns when you have all that?

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