Yum Cha

27 - 28 Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AG

I had been very keen to go here for ages, since reading about it on somebody else's blog (sorry, but cannot remember who to credit!). But I haven't had any time off for ages, and to rub salt in the wound, Mr PP (who handily works in Camden) has taken to lunching here too often for my liking.

But today I finally managed to get some time off, and insisted that whatever else we did today, we were having dim sum for lunch.

Given that the weather was compartively nice (there was some actual, real sunshine) we walked from Finsbury Park to Camden, and arrived healthily hungry having forgotten to breakfast.

The restaurant itself was fairly spacious, and despite Camden being predictably heaving with tourists, not too busy. We settled into a spacious corner table, and as is our traditional I decided on our order.

The Menu:
The menu had a fairly standard array of buns and parcels variously deep fried and steamed. It wasn't the most extensive dim sum menu I'd ever seen, but there were plenty of favourites on there, so as ever, my main problem was working out what to try today and what to leave for next time. In the end, for the first round we ordered salt & pepper squid, scallop dumpling, chicken shumai, chiu chow dumpling, crispy duck roll, turnip cake, prawn cheung fun, five spice crispy pig ear and tea for two.

Our Meal:
Now one of the things I like about eating dim sum (apart from the obvious!) is that it's quick. Little dishes arriving as and when they're ready is absolutely what I want when I'm hungry. A 50 minute wait before anything arrived was not part of the plan! To add insult to injury, the table next to us was positively groaning with food, and it just kept on coming.

Finally, the salt & pepper squid arrived. There are of course no photographs as by this point we were so hungry it was just wolfed down. It was fresh, crispy and delicious. And then we continued to wait...

We never found out what the problem was, as staff fairly studiously avoided us, but eventually after another substantial wait (and a discussion about leaving and eating elsewhere), it all finally arrived at once.

We started with the chicken, which was fine but not terribly flavoursome, and it was only by a process of elimination that we knew what it was.






From the chicken to the scallop, which for me was much more successful. Fresh, succulent and highly flavoured, this really hit the spot, and was much more what I had been anticipating.

The chiu chow dumplings continued to hit the spot, filled with mushrooms, peanuts and crunchy vegetables, and bursting with flavour.






The duck rolls were very light, and not at all greasy. Unfortunately, I would say not highly flavoured, although the plum sauce was lovely and light, and not as sickly and overpowering as it can often be.

The turnip cake however was an absolute triumph. This is one of my favourite dishes, and they had absolutely done it justice. Light and tasty, it was only improved by a little of the sauce from the cheung fun, although it didn't really need it.



I'm not much of a fan of cheung fun, it being Mr PP's choice, but this was fine, and he enjoyed it very much.

There was no sign of the pig's ear, but we decided not to pursue that one. Mr PP was ready to move on, but I had a real yearning for a custard bun. He was a little sceptical about the time, but I decided to have faith and we ordered the custard tarts and sweet custard buns. Mr PP had another try for the pig's ear, and was this time told that they didn't have it anyway.

These last two dishes arrived very quickly. The tarts were absolutely beautiful. The pastry was incredibly light and flaky, and the custard was perfect. Not too runny and not set too hard, it had a surprisingly delicate flavour and we both really enjoyed them.

The buns were also beautifully light, and although they looked a bit dry when they were opened, were not at all. The custard flavour was stronger and sweeter than the tarts, but also tasted quite strongly of coconut, which worked really well.


Having had one each, Mr PP had the last bun, and I scoffed the last tart.

After a poor start, we were very happy with the food, the majority of the dishes being extremely good. Even those that didn't completely make the mark were still of good quality.

The bill, including 12.5% service (which I wouldn't have paid but it was up to Mr PP) came to just under £30.

What we liked:
The food, the location, the sunshine!

What we didn't like:
The initial wait (although they did get this sorted for round two, and - although not much comfort to us - it did seem to be specific to us, and everybody else was eating!)

Will we be back?:
Definitely. Lots of other dishes to try. I just need to get some more time off soon ...