Ping Pong St Katharines Docks

We scored an invite to test out the soon to be open Ping Pong on the staff training day. I had been intrigued about Ping Pong for awhile, but I am always a bit apprehensive about Westernised yum cha. Well, I have to say I am impressed.

Food

Imagine the Wagamama concept, except for dim sum. We started with some drinks from the scrumptious drinks menu. The Kumquat mojito (£5.75) – Santiago de Cuba Blanco rum, lime, mint, sugar and kumquats was everything I expected, tangy, sour and sweet, it was definitely refreshing for the food. The place was really hot, and I wonder if they do this on purpose so you would order more cocktails? The Flowering Jasmine Lily (£1.95) – green tea buds, infused with jasmine, hand tied around lily and jasmine flowers was a bad choice considering it was so hot. I really only ordered it so I could see the flowering bud. It looked spectacular, but tasted like water.

There were 8 of us at the table, so we were able to try a large variety of dishes. The menu is broken out into different sections, with the steam stuff winning hands down in terms of both variety and taste.

• Wasabi three bean mix (£.99) – soy beans, green beans and black beans coated in spicy horseradish - I was so surprised that these were very hot and very fresh. A very good start.
• Char sui bun (£3.10) – honey barbecue pork in fluffy white bun pastry - not as good as the Chinese restaurants. The pastry a bit hard and the filling too dry and bland.
• Seafood Sticky Rice (£3.30) – rice with king prawns and scallops wrapped in a Lotus leaf - not much seafood. I think seafood only sticky rice doesn’t really work in this dish as you need a bit of meat to bring out the flavour.
• Crispy Thai Chicken Spring Roll (£2.99) – chicken and prawns with chilli, coriander and lemongrass wrapped in bean curd skin and served with chilli fish sauce - the skin was crisp on the outside and still soft on the inside, the filling was great too.
• Chives (£2.99) – king prawns and chives in green chive pastry - lovely balance of flavour, and the pastry was well done.
• Crystal (£2.99) – sauteed vegetables in transparent crystal pastry - this one was a bit cold when I ordered, but it was pleasing nevertheless.
• Scallop and shitake – scallops and king prawns with shitake mushrooms in wheat flour pastry - my favourite dish of the night, great flavour and great skin, everything a dumpling should be.
• Pork shu mai (£2.99) – pro and king prawns in open shu mai pastry topped with a Chinese wolfberry - very different to the ones you normally get at yum cha. I think for the better. The pork was certainly better quality.
• Seafood (£2.99) – snow crab, prawns and scallops in carrot tortellini pastry - not as good as I thought, the carrot pastry didn’t really work.
• Honey Glazed Ribs (£3.99) – 3 pork ribs roasted with Ping Pong’s special spices, glazed with honey - a little dry but the meat was very generous and quite tender.
• First Emperor’s Treasure (£4.50) – steamed salmon dumpling with lime leaves topped with trout eggs - this didn’t work well together, the flavours did not combine well.
• Qin Shihuangdi Dum Sum (£4.50) – steamed scallop, prawn and pork dumpling topped with lump fish roe - quite pleasant, like a rich man’s version of normal dumplings.
• Coconut puff (£3.20) – baked puff filled with coconut, topped with honey and sesame seeds, served with a scoop of coconut ice cream - the puff was a bit dry, the coconut filling was not too sweet – tasting like a BBQ pork puff, only with coconut texture. The ice-cream was heavenly.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

Ping Pong looks good, and I can see that this would be a real attraction to Westerners. There is a big bar area, with the dining area consisting of small and large tables. They have thought of the little things as well. Shelves under the seats allow you to pop your coat, and there are hooks for your bags under the table, although the hooks can’t always support your bag, and it does get in the way of your legs.

Décor is pretty much funky Chinese furnishing, rendered in black. It does get very noisy and very busy and hot, but that means they have replicated the

Rating - 1.5

Service

It was staff training day and the staff gets evaluated, so they were all on their best behaviour. Several people served us, and we did make things very difficult for them since we had two separate bills and menus going, but they managed it quite well. Our server was very good too, so I wonder what the place would be like if they aren’t on training.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

We got all our food for free as it was a staff training day, so we only paid for drinks. If they can keep this standard up normally though, it is definitely worthy for a meal.

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 14.5

Info

Quayside, Tower Bridge House
St Katharines Docks
London
E1W 1BA
Phone +44 (0) 20 7680 7850
Website