Ping Pong

Chinese

St Katharine Dock, Unit 3 Quayside, E1W 1BA

£

Chain Chinese restaurant Ping Pong has 9 branches around London and offers an introduction to dim sum, with pretty tame options to settle you in. Despite the food lacking the adventure of traditional Chinese food, this does not make it any less tasty.

I went to the Ping Pong in St Katharine Dock's last week, after deciding Tom's Kitchen was just a tad too expensive, and after a sudden craving for for deep fried, steamed and saucy goodness. The menu was much more desirable, with most dishes under a tenner.

The waiter recommended us to get 4 dishes each. We went for the Crispy Chilli Squid (£6.95), Soft Shell Crab Bao (£11), Black Sesame Seed Prawn Crackers (£1.95), Prawn and Scallop Sticky Rice (£4.30), Crispy Duck Spring Rolls (£5.15), Shanghai Xiaolongbao (£3.85), and some Crab and Prawn Dumplings (£4.30). There were 7 dishes between the two of us and this was the perfect amount.

The Soft Shell Crab was delicious and whilst originally apprehensive to try this in a Bao bun, due to previous bad Bao experience at On the Bab, it was surprisingly good. The dumplings were perfectly cooked and overall everything was very tasty. I would recommend getting crispy duck in the original flour wraps, not spring rolls, and I was expecting more of the stick rice, but apart from these minor blips the meal was very enjoyable and very decently priced.

The location of this particular branch is very appealing, overlooking the dock. The overall area is quite chain-heavy but this seems to be one of the more interesting and desirable options. Go to Ping Pong if you are slightly concerned about bold food choices, or if, like me, you like tasty dim sum at reasonable prices.