Ping Pong Dim Sum

This place annoyed me in so many ways and not all of it down to the restaurant itself. I will even cast my ire towards the UK Chinese restaurant owners who can’t even up their game to better this mediocre high gloss veneered dross, so much for their hardworking entrepreneurial knowhow.

I have been walking past Ping Pong Dim Sum restaurant in Waterloo so many times over the past years when I am up in London for meetings. It always looks busy, the place looks contemporary, the web site looks slick and the descriptions make you want to lap it all up. Even though I had heard a few negative comments, and I could have guessed that the dim sum will never be as good as the main Chinatown places or Ocean City in Bournemouth, the whole package lured in me one freezing cold February night. I just wanted the warm comfort of steamed dumplings.

I was actually sat in the Hope and Anchor, famed gastropub, having a couple of pints and wondering what to eat. I made a slight comment on Facebook about their steak pie being £16. A quick search didn’t bring up a huge amount of eating options around London Waterloo and I didn’t want to jump on the Tube at that busy time and was drawn in by the lure of dim sum. So marketing does work, even if you have a big feeling that it isn’t going to be great. I should have stayed put or even went to the basic Chinese restaurant/café just a few doors down.

It was so busy and I ended up sharing a table of 8 that had three couples on it, which is fine. You order by ticking off a list, just like in some real dim sum places!

Braised Chinese mushrooms rice pot £5.75

The pot was cold, the rice was wet and the veg must have been dipped in boiling water and then dumped on top. I saw no mushrooms and I even asked to double check. I seriously could not believe this dish and how on earth it was more than £5. This was the worst travesty I have ever seen.

Sweet Basil Seafood Soup £3.95
The soup had one mussel and about 3 prawns. Tasted like powered Maggi tomato soup that I remember from the 70s. A pathetic small amount for the price as well. Look at the photo and the depth the spoon goes into.

Beef dumplings £3.95
These were OK, but over-steamed and not really that much filling. But three pieces, really? So sad.

Squid in satay sauce £4.75
Inoffensive but not a great deal there to have much comment on and not very satay-y. I was dunking most things into the chilli oil that they provided but not a huge improvement.

It cost just under £30 for my meal which did include one £7 glass of Riesling. The 12.5% service charge was a joke as well. All in all, a very sad and annoying experience.

What I don’t get is that it was packed, with people queuing as well. The food was terrible in my opinion and definitely not value for money. What I don’t get is not necessarily why the public fall for this rubbish. This is not good food that is a sanitised version of Chinese dim sum, but this is just bad food, plain and simple.

The remained of my annoyance falls on those Chinese restaurant owners that see the whole “Wong Kei” experience as the benchmark. All it takes is a bit of slick, a bit of chic and a bit of marketing. It bloody worked for Ping Pong! Standard Chinese restaurant food is far better than this. Service usually is not. Walking up to tables shouting “Wot u want” is not the best way forward.

These chain type places get the business end of things working so well. The food end plays second fiddle.

I had to get a couple of snacks from the Wasabi booth at Waterloo station as a top up for the journey home. I enjoyed their edamame and California Temaki roll.

I can’t even be arsed to put their website link here.

@eatlovenoodles puts it very aptly on his blog –

Ping Pong is to dim sum, what Angus Steakhouse is to beef.

Others that feel the same way: Tamarind and Thyme blog