A London Lunch: New Loon Fung, China Town

On Saturday, Bridget and I joined my parents for a dim sum lunch at New Loon Fung, Gerrard Street in London's Chinatown.

It's the first time we've eaten there, and we were impressed. 

We had a combination if dishes, starting with Seafood Crispy Noodles, which were the perfect mix of crispy round the edges, and soft in the centre where the saucy seafood had sat atop. The seafood in question was a generous portion of scallops, prawns and squid plus a combination of vegetables - all cooked to perfection, delicious. 

Seafood Crispy Noodles

We also had roast duck on rice, usually a favourite, but this was the one, slightly disappointing dish, as the duck was overdone and had taken on that liver-esque taste and texture. A shame.

Roast Duck on rice

Dim sum dishes at New Loon Fung were all pleasing though, sui mai and har gau plus prawn cheung fun, as the cornerstones of every dim sum meal we have, were all good. 

Other dishes though that impressed included a scallop and spring onion dumpling, sesame paper wrapped prawns which were deep-friend and delicious, Shanghai style dumplings - Xia Long Bao, with pork and a soupy broth inside - two beautiful mouthfuls, and some gorgeous crispy vegetable spring rolls. The squid cakes were also good despite being devoid of my favourite coriander. 

Paper Wrapped Prawns

Spring Rolls

Squid Cakes

Shanghai Dumplings

Char Sui Bao, the soft doughy steamed bun filled with barbecue pork, were on top form, which is just as well as my little toddler foodie, Bridget, loves them. She has recently become much more adept at using a spoon and fork and it was lovely to see her feeding herself noodles, rice and the like all on her own. 

Char Sui Bao

Bridget enjoying her dim sum

As a sweet treat, we had egg custard tarts to complete the meal which were excellent; sweet, flaky pastry containing a light, bright yellow-hued baked custard, just delicious. Bridget had her first try too and, as usual loved them. 

Custard Tarts

The meal for the four of us (three adults plus a toddler) came in at £70 including service which was good considering we over-ordered and took away a couple of boxes of leftovers. Service at New Loon Fung was excellent and the staff here were extra attentive to Bridget, which really makes a difference when eating out with a toddler. I'll definitely return to New Loon Fung for more.

We rounded off the day by visiting Trafalgar Square to join into the St George’s Day festivities, which included a bit of a street party atmosphere, lots of food and drink stalls, a few fairground attractions, people in medieval dress and a Chef’s area where I watched a short demo from Masterchef winner, Natalie Coleman – so plenty going on. A great family day.

The Cheung Family

Bridget having fun in Leicester Square

Hong Kong: Foodie Highlights

For me one of the joys of travel is embracing new and excitingly different foods to the ones you might ordinarily have. During our fortnight’s stay in Hong Kong, back in November, presented to me the ultimate foodie destination.

Every day, a new, delicious delicacy revealed itself – whether it was one of the incredibly varied and wonderful dumplings (that vary from region to restaurant), or one of the fantastically dainty pastries, of which I wasn’t expecting to find such a huge array of. Our holiday confirmed to me how expensive eating in London can be too – we failed to have a ‘bad meal’ and frequented an array of different types of eateries from casual cafes to fine-dining establishments and the food was cheaper than you would expect in the UK and generally very, very good quality.

I’ve included here just a few of my culinary highlights – but Hong Kong is such a cultural melting pot with influences from all over the world so if you find yourself in this wonderful place, explore and enjoy and I’m sure you’ll discover a few foodie hotspots of your own.


We enjoyed a couple of different meals at Jade Garden in Kowloon’s Star House mall including both dim sum and an evening meal. Stand out dishes here from our dim sum experience included the taro croquettes, or as my family refer to them ‘hairy monsters’ (childhood nickname that stuck), some tasty and tender squid tentacles that my (at the time) 14 month old daughter, Bridget adored and a lovely duo of roasted meats including char sui (barbecued pork) and roast duck – both very traditionally Cantonese and both sensational. For our evening meal the absolute standout dish had to be the Peking duck – brought to the table roasted whole (head and beak included) to show freshness, the taste was out of this world good, crispy skin, fatty middle and gorgeous meaty flesh – just outstanding. Also I found it really interesting watching the waitress carve – unlike the shredding of duck here in the UK it was like watching an art form.

Peking Duck at Jade Garden

Maxim's Palace located in the City Hall building in Central was one of my favourite dim sum venues. Very traditional, the dim sum dishes come around on trolleys for you to select which you'd like.

Here we had a real selection and as well as the usual sui mai, har gau dumplings we tried some scallop and chive dumplings that were really good, some beef dumplings that reminded me of an aromatic spiced meatball, some fantastically crispy chicken wontons and some prawn rolls in a crunchy exterior that were juicy and garlicy inside - perfect with just a smidge of chilli oil. Delicious. 

Sui Mai & Scallop & Chive Dumplings at Maxim's Palace

Crispy Prawn Rolls at Maxim's Palace

The Tasty Wonton & Congee Shop outlets are dotted around in different places around Hong Kong and are a really economic venue to enjoy authentic yet delicious Cantonese food – we popped into the IFC outlet frequently. The Wonton Mian - or soup with wontons and noodles will set you back about a fiver in British money and is utterly addictive -true to the name sake very tasty. Another favourite spot for wonton mian was the Praise House Congee and Noodle Cuisine in Maritime Square shopping mall at Tsing Yi – which was often part of our route home to Ma Wan of an evening.

I had a lovely meal with my friend Vickie who lives in Hong Kong at Crystal Jade in IFC shopping mall in Central. This was my first time trying Xiao Long Bao - Shanghai dumplings with pork inside surrounded by piping hot soup - I was then hunting them every day after as they are really nice. The outer casing is a bit more dough-y than some of the dumplings - really moreish. We also had war tips - crispy fried pork dumplings and smoked fried pigeon - both delicious.

Xiao Long Bao at Crystal Jade

Pigeon at Crystal Jade

War tips at Crystal Jade

We headed to the fishing market village of Stanley for one of the days, and enjoyed some fantastic dim sum at Chung’s Cuisine in Stanley Plaza. As well as our usual dishes we had by now become accustomed to ordering char sui bao for Bridget - her favourite dish, and we also enjoyed some tasty cuttlefish cakes, and two different types of crispy fried prawn fish - one was simply in a tasty batter and deep fried - beautiful with the soy dipping sauce. The other was encased in a thicker dumpling surround and came with some salad cream but I loved these with the chilli oil again. Incidentally if you are visiting Hong Kong, Stanley is well worth a visit. 

Crispy Fried Prawns at Chung's Cuisine, Stanley

Cuttlefish Cakes, Chung's Cuisine, Stanley

Outside of traditional Cantonese food, We had a lovely high tea at Cafe Deco when visiting The Peak which included sandwiches, mini sliders, cheese tartlets, sausage rolls and other little savoury bites as well as scones with clotted cream and jam, macarons, a lovely blueberry pastry, a lemon filled selection of mini choux buns, raspberry tartlets, trifle and a couple of slices of Madeira cake.

High Tea at Cafe Deco, The Peak

Another great meal was at The Ivy in the IFC Mall in Central which I had with my Mum - a gorgeous Seabass en papillote dish that I've since recreated at home as well as a seafood linguine for Mum. 

Seafood Linguine, The Ivy, IFC

Seabass en Papillote, The Ivy, IFC

I had some delicious pork fried dumplings in a shopping mall food court which cost about £3 and were one of my favourite things.

In Ma Wan my favourite meal was a traditional Malaysian chicken curry that was particularly welcome after a few too many Tsingtao's the night before.

We also had a fantastic Michelin starred dim sum experience at Yue at City Garden Hotel which I've already posted about.

Hong Kong is jam packed full of foodie gems – some overt and some quite well hidden so go explore!

Hong Kong: Michelin Star Dim Sum at Yue, City Garden Hotel

My paternal grandfather hailed from Hong Kong before he settled here in London back in the sixties, and so whilst he is no longer with us, we have some family that remain in various parts of Hong Kong.

During our stay, we were invited by my Dad's two first cousins Wai Hung and Wai Lock and their wives invited us to join them, alongside my Grandad's two brothers, to visit the Michelin starred Cantonese restaurant, Yue at the City Garden Hotel in the Fortress Hill area.

As well as some of the more traditional dim sum dishes with which we are very familiar, such as sui mai and har gau (steamed crab and pork dumplings and pork dumplings) we also enjoyed something a little more unusual and experienced why Yue has that Michelin star. 

Sui Mai at Yue

Har Gau at Yue

One of the signature dishes we had was a beautiful looking confection that looked more like a dessert on first glance. It was a well-seasoned small piece of fried grouper with fish maw placed a top of a three layered blancmange-looking jelly; that was in actual fact, egg white with truffle sauce. As I don't eat egg, it was a shame, I did try the truffled egg white but it wasn't to my taste which was a shame as overall it looked very impressive. The grouper, however, was utterly delicious and the dish was awarded the Gold with Distinction Award, 2010 Best of the Culinary Awards by Hong Kong Tourism Board.

Seared Grouper with Fish Maw on Truffled Egg White

We also enjoyed some char sui - which we did most days during our stay in Hong Kong but this pork was exquisite. It was the perfect balance of sweet and umami and just beautifully melt-in-the-mouth tender too and sat upon some gorgeously seasoned soya beans - a definite stand out dish here.

Char Sui on Soya Beans

Equally delicious was a dish I was surprised to have in Hong Kong - crispy pork served with a dipping sauce of English mustard. Again the meat was fantastically tender and the crispy skin was addictively good. 

Crispy Roast Pork at Yue

We had crispy noodles with seafood - another of our favourites whenever we enjoy Chinese food, but this again was something extra special with gorgeous prawns, scallops and squid - everything was just so, seasoned really well and cooked perfectly.

Crispy Noodles with Seafood

Other new dishes we enjoyed at Yue included chicken & pineapple buns that sound like an odd combination but were actually really delicious; like so many exceptional Cantonese dishes, they combine the sweet with the savoury with great results. 

Chicken & Pineapple Buns

We also had a dish of which I'm unsure of the name of, the outside were rice rolls, like with Cheung Fun, but the inside was crispy fried noodles - a really lovely textural contrast. We had fried rice with XO sauce which was another winner, vegetable spring rolls, turnip paste, that was infinitely better than any I've tried in the UK, glutinous rice in lotus leaf and tried the steamed sponge cake for the first time at any dim sum, of which my daughter adored and we now get every time we have dim sum. 

Fried Rice with XO Sauce

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Turnip Paste at Yue

Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf at Yue, City Garden Hotel

This was a really great meal - an elevated experience from your average dim sum experience; and one of my favourite meals in Hong Kong - it was extra special as was spent with family members who we don't often see. If visiting Hong Kong make sure Yue is on your restaurant wish list.

The Cheung family

A London Lunch No. 7: Dim Sum at Young Chen, Lisle Street

Dim sum for lunch makes me happy, very happy indeed.

My Grandad on my Dad’s side hailed from Hong Kong, so certain delicious Chinese delights, such as Char Siu Bao, remind me of my first tastes of dim sum, and offer the same kind of comfort food nourishment to me as macaroni cheese or my favourite, Pie & Mash.

I like to think of dim sum as the Chinese version of ‘afternoon tea’, as I only ever enjoy after 12pm, however traditionally, I believe this is served all day, and of course with the accompaniment of Chinese herbal tea. Not a massive fan of herby teas, I usually wash my dim sum down with a bottle of two of Tsintao, probably the most well known Chinese beer.

Many of the restaurants around Chinatown in Soho get a bad press, but actually there are a few real jewels, and frankly I blame sheer snobbery for people shunning the ‘dutty’ looking venues in favour of more fine dining style Chinese. Dim sum doesn’t need to be gourmet or artisan, so here is a lunch recommendation for one of my favourites, Young Chen on Lisle Street.

Probably the most well known dish, Siu Mai, are the little pork and prawn dumplings topped with bright orange cod roe gems. An odd looking little dish of steamed parcels, there is a reason they are so commonly known, they are absolutely delicious, and the Young Chen varieties always leave you wanting more. The always have a mixed texture inside, minced pork, chopped up pieces of prawn and a flavourful bite from spring onion – they are a must order at any dim sum venue.

One of my favourite dishes, has to be King Prawn Cheung Fun, not least because it includes my surname. Again, this isn’t the most beautiful or inviting plate of food, however the cannelloni-like rice noodle wrappers, filled with deliciously fresh, large meaty prawns and sitting in a pool of sticky, salty soy sauce can bring such a joyful sensation to the mouth. Like many dishes served as dim sum, Cheung Fun has a sweetness to it and for me, it is a truly addictive plate of food.

Ha Gau, the other well-known dumpling, are another favourite – shaped like a sea shell, the original are filled, again with prawns and are quite simply fantastic little bites of joy. But do try other varieties too, such as those with chives.

I cannot order dim sum, no matter how many are in my company, whether one or ten, without ordering one of my favourite things in the world – squid cakes. I don’t know the Chinese name for these sadly, but they are fabulous patties made up of squid, fiery chilly, garlic and ginger and the herb that frankly improves most things to my mind, coriander. I didn’t take a photo on my last visit, despite knowing I would be writing about them, as I literally inhale as soon as they arrive.

If you like Char Siu Bao, or indeed deliciously sweet char siu, or the sweet BBQ pork of Chinese restaurants, then you will probably like what I call Char Siu Pastries. Little mini pies of slightly greasy flaky pastry filled with the delicious barbecued meat and topped with sesame seeds – they are to die for. The element of grease is particularly good if you have been on the sauce the night before too. 

These are probably the dishes I most often order and enjoy when having dim sum, but there are tons of others that often make up the selection, such as fried chickens feet (yes really), turnip paste and lots of other dumplings. If I go with a crowd, normally my family, then we might be likely to order Beef Ho Fun – flat, delicious fried noodles topped with tender beef in a black bean sauce, or crispy noodles with seafood to bulk up the order too.

One thing that I must mention, is the simple, but incredibly delicious dessert of dim sum – the egg custard tarts. An alarmingly yellow hued custard centre surrounded by sweet, flaky pastry these are an absolute must if you have a sweet tooth like me. 

Dim sum can vary in cost depending on how many of you there are and how hungry you are. But if you go in a two to Young Chen and order 4-5 dishes of the above you could expect change from £40 so it’s a reasonably, yet very enjoyable food experience.