PING PONG, Festival Terrace, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

30.03.11

I’d been wanting to try Ping Pong for some time as they specialise in Dim Sum dishes and having spent 4 years in Hong Kong, I like to think I know what good Dim Sum should be!  My friend and I got a really warm greeting and we were seated at a table for two round the side of the restaurant.  If you are in a pair, its best to go round there as it’s a bit quieter than the main area downstairs.  I believe there’s an upstairs area too but I didn’t see it.

The “Ping Pong” way of ordering was explained to us a very polite waitress.  We asked if we could wait to order as we had some serious nattering to do and she said absolutely fine. We weren’t hassled at all for not ordering during this time and then about an hour later, we put in our order by ticking boxes on a list – very simple.    Food was good and tasty, but not quite the quality of the Dim Sum you’d get in Chinatown.  Not bad though and reasonably priced. We didn’t order as much as they recommended per person, but it was still plenty for us.  Service was consistently good throughout (apart from a waiter forgetting to bring me an extra glass of wine towards the end of the meal, but to be honest, I think he did me a favour!).  Dinner plus two bottles of wine (I hadn’t seen this friend for 5 years….!) was £70.  Would definitely go again.