GRAND IMPERIAL LONDON, 101 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0SJ

The last time I ate here, it was a French restaurant but this new incarnation is far, far better.  Located in a “blink and you’ll miss it” kind of spot, Grand Imperial is right next door to Victoria Station.  My friend G had eaten here the previous week and said the dim sum had to be tasted to be believed and as there was a £10 dim sum lunch deal, I took her up on her offer.

You get to choose 3 dim dishes from a list of around 10 choices.  Each portion has 3 pieces so all in all, you get about 9 bits of dim sum each.  Dim sum actually means literally, to “touch the heart” and this is certainly true at Grand Imperial. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted dim sum of such high quality – it truly is extraordinarily delicious and so very fresh.   Each mouthful was heaven.  The only drawback with the £10 offer is that there is just not enough of it…. (or maybe we were just greedy?).  We followed it up with a shared plate of beef brisket noodles that hit the spot.   With unlimited Jasmine tea thrown in to the £10 offer, the bill was just over £30, a very good deal for such a high quality lunch.  The service was also excellent and fairly friendly, although one of the female waitresses could probably freeze a glass of water with her expression.  But we were lucky to be served by a very nice man.

Just make sure to ask for the £10 dim sum lunch offer (only available Mon-Fri) as they have several other lunch “offers”.  I’m already trying to work out when I can fit in another visit.