Part of a chain it may be, but Ping Pong in Newman Street has a commitment to decent quality, reasonably-priced food that puts other restaurants to shame.

The Venue
Perched on the corner of Newman Street and Goodge Street, Ping Pong is slap-bang in the middle of lively Fitzrovia. Inside, it’s slightly confused: the open kitchen and big wooden tables on the first floor (there’s an upstairs, too) suggest a sort of informal modernity but the dark-wood panelled walls beg, reasonably forcefully, to differ.

The Atmosphere
The tables here are close but not stiflingly so: there’s also a fairly private little table for two in a little nook of its own around the corner from the entrance. Reasonably full on a Friday night, the turnover is high (the result of quick service) and you could easily turn up and get a table. The clientele is local office workers and couples enjoying a decent-value dinner.

The Food
Dim sum has mushroomed in popularity since the advent of Hakkasan in 2001. Since then, a number of places have opened in the capital but most of them, it must be said, can put a fair dent in your wallet. That isn’t true of Ping Pong, where most of the dim sum is around £3.00 a go.

The menu (which features a pretty traditional selection) is divided into baked, steamed and fried dishes, with rice, vegetables and steamed buns also available. Particularly recommended are the actually quite mild steamed spicy pork dumplings and the vegetarian sticky rice. There’s also a selection of chef’s specials, including a delicious cold noodle and crab salad and chicken wonton soup, which is light and moreish.

The spinach and beef dumplings, by contrast, are rather bland: given a blindfold and not knowing what they were, you might struggle to identify the two main ingredients. Fortunately the same cannot be said of the squid in satay sauce, nor of the mixed mushrooms, which are rich and piquant. The crispy hoi sin duck roll is exactly as you would hope: moist and flavoursome duck encased in a crispy shell, served with a dark, viscous sauce.

Puddings are limited: there are four options, the most exciting of which appears to be the mango pudding in coconut milk. The texture, however, is a little strange: it’s hard to square this rather creamy blamange with your expectations of a sweet, juicy mango. Perhaps it’s a grower.

The Drink
Ping Pong seems pretty pleased with their cocktails, although a fruity drink might not necessarily be the best accompaniment to dim sum. In any case, there’s a reasonably-priced Semillon Sauvignon Blanc on the wine list, even if it is a little on the watery side and served in a fat-bottomed tumbler instead of a wine glass. The jasmine tea rates a mention: served in a tall glass, hot water is poured onto a jasmine flower which gradually opens and infuses the water. Entertaining and tasty.

The Last Word
This isn’t the best dim sum in town, but for the price it’s actually rather good - and the jasmine tea is magnificent.

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