Phoenix Palace, England by Bureaucrat

Yum cha at Phoenix Palace was a nice surprise - better than expected and also is apparently quite the place for celebrity spotting.


Located just off the busy main road near Bakerloo Station, PP is decorated in traditional Chinese style - lots of redwood furniture, golden and red highlights.


It's like it's perpetually decorated for Chinese New Year or an Asian wedding.


I'm usually not a fan of Har Gao, but these were nice and plump.


The Xiao Long Bao's were slightly disappointing - I think it was overcooked, as there wasn't the soup within the dumpling. And it didn't come served with the red ginger vinegar.


Dried shrimp and spring onion Cheung Fun. Lovely squidgy, slippery rice noodles, with plenty of dried shrimps. Yummo.


PP also have a chef's special section. And here we found the more traditional style dishes - yumminess! At 6.80 pounds, we only ordered one dish. Thank god for that - as the dish was quite small for the price! Nonetheless, the cold jellyfish with cucumbers were pleasantly squidgy and crunchy. The flavour was a delicate balance of sweet and sour. A rather stingy serving of jellyfish and too much cucumber - it should be the other way around (I mean, I'm not paying almost 7 pounds for cucumbers!).


The pan fried turnip cake was a bit salty but had a good amount of Chinese sausage.


The Lawyer ordered the beef balls - I never liked these, so I didn't try them. However, the Lawyer said that they were nice.


The pan fried dumplings were nicely crispy all over.


The egg tarts were on the small side, but tasty.

Overall
The price was similar to that of those dodgy/touristy yum cha places in Chinatown. But unlike those places in Chinatown, the decor, service and quality was definitely more upmarket.

Also, I liked the fact that the yum cha menu included some traditional dishes, which are usually quite hard to find in London - jellyfish, preserved eggs, etc.

At the entrance, there are many photos of the celebrities that have dined here - David Tennant (Dr Who), Barbara Windsor (East Enders, Carry On...), David Suchet (Poirot), Jimmy Choo (shoemaker), Tony and Cherie Blair, plus a host of Asian celebs and politicians.

Top marks for food, quality, service and decor. We left with a full belly and very happy.

Address
Phoenix Palace
3-5 Glentworth Street
St John's Wood NW1 5PG
Telephone: 020 7486 3515