Kam Fung

After 5 + City Pig’s Summary

Snapshot
Cuisine:	Chinese
Price:	Average spend £15 per person (Three mains to share with rice, Chinese tea and service charge.)
Healthy:	Healthy scale 3/5
Tasty:	3.5/5 – Food 3/5 – Service 3/5 – Comfort of dining in 3.5/5 – Overall rating
Address:	27 Red Lion Street, London  WC1R 4PS. Nearest tube: Holborn
Opening times	Call:  020 7242 5821
Eat in/Takeaway:	Eat-in
Recommended dishes & drinks	Hot pot dishes on the Chinese menu.
Vegetarian dishes	Yes
Loyalty card	No
Website	No website
Notes	A local small Chinese restaurant serving simple and large portion sized Cantonese dishes.

After 5 + City Pig’s analysis

Kam Fung is a small Chinese restaurant located in Holborn and is relatively unknown as it is located on a side street. However, those in the know will tell you how extremely large portions are served here.

I came here the other day as I felt like having some comfort food but nothing too greasy. Kam Fung is the place to come and it is a perfect spot if you are really hungry. Arriving here just the two of us, I knew we were going to have trouble completing all the dishes. We ordered three dishes being from the Chinese menu. A beef brisket hotpot with satay sauce, a seafood tofu dish and the classic stir fried garlic flavoured choi sum (Chinese vegetables).

The food came quick and the service was reasonable. I noticed that the dishes on the Chinese menu were quite expensive about £15 for the hot pots but given the size you could easily share between three to four people. If you chose to have a one meal dish per person this averages £7.

There isn’t much to say about the atmosphere, it is a typical small Chinese restaurant and don’t expect any ambience but a quick hearty meal.

Often associated with poor quality if you are given large portions, it is relatively good quality food. I didn’t get the greasy MSG feeling and I noticed how many vegetables were thrown in to supplement the dishes. There were tomatoes in the beef brisket which is not traditionally the case but tasted well with the satay sauce. Beef brisket hotpot dishes can tend to be very oily, I was satisfied that the right balance was achieved here.

I observed that most customers have to have a doggy bag to bring back the leftover food which is what happened with us.

The cooking cannot be compared to the likes of Royal China but it is the simple home-style cooking with large portions that has given Kam Fung the reputation it deserves.

There are no male waiters and this has been the case for many years and had always struck me as being very odd. Whatever the reasons, they obviously know what the secret recipe is since this place is still going strong after many years. 

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Phoenix Palace

After 5 + City Pig’s analysis
 

Snapshot
Cuisine/Speciality:	Chinese
Price:	£35 per head (Average cost of sharing eight dishes, service charge and Chinese tea.)
Healthy:	Depends on the dishes ordered but there is plenty of fish and vegetables on the menu. Delicious Chinese dishes tend to be fried and oily.
Tasty	4.5/5 – Food   4/5 - Service  4/5 - Comfort of dining in  3/5 - Value  4 /5 - Overall rating
Occasion:	Family/Friends dinner, business dining (private rooms available with karaoke) and birthdays. Dim sum lunch
Address:	5 Glentworth Street, London NW1 5PG
Opening times	Mon – Sat 12pm-11:30pm; Sun 11:30am-10:30pm
Eat in/Takeaway:	Eat-in and take-away.
Recommended dishes & drinks	Five spices pork belly with Peking Bun.    Veal in black pepper and honey sauce.
Vegetarian dishes	Suitable for Vegetarians.
Loyalty card	No.
Website	http://www.phoenixpalace.co.uk/
Notes	A posher Chinese restaurant delivering high quality dishes with more creative ones but be prepared to flash the cash. Dim sum is more affordable if you want to try this place out.

 After 5 + City Pig’s analysis

A classic Chinese restaurant located away from China town but draws in plenty of Chinese and western customers. Lovers of fine Chinese food will have heard of Phoenix Palace as it brings top quality Chinese dishes. It delivers not only the usual classics of Cantonese cuisine but a variety of dishes not commonly found in other Chinese restaurants.

 Having been to Phoenix Palace many times throughout my life from dim sum lunch to dinners - it often does not fail to impress. However, not every dish is executed without fault.

I was surprised to recently receive good customer service which is not always the case here and in other Chinese restaurants.

Dishes are on the smaller side and prices are definitely higher than is used to be. We originally ordered six dishes for five of us but then added two more dishes! Some examples of tasty and dishes to order are the pork belly with man tou (Chinese steamed bread) and honey and black pepper veal. The seasoning is not too strong and the meat is tender.

This time I found the ingredients of some dishes were of poorer quality such as the peashoot and choi sum vegetables rather than the cooking. The braised tofu and Chinese mushroom dish was not as expected - it was not puffy and was flat and dry.

Phoenix Palace is a presentable Chinese restaurant with plenty of space even for the little ones. It is less crowded in here and easier to park your car and even close to the train and tube station. It can be rather expensive meal but the quality overall tends to be superb.

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Royal China Club

After 5 + City Pig’s summary

Snapshot
Cuisine:	Chinese
Price:	£25 - Approximate cost for lunch based on dim sum dishes.
Healthy:	·         Steamed dim sum ·         A variety of fish and vegetable based dim sums
Tasty:	·         5/5 – Food (Based on dim sum) ·         3.5/5 – Service ·         4.5/5 – Overall rating
Occasion:	·         Long lunches and dinners with friends and family ·         Business dining
Address:	40-42 Baker Street, W1U 7AJ
Opening times	Monday to Thursday – 12pm – 11pm Friday – 12pm – 11:30pm Saturday to Sunday – 12pm -10:30pm
Eat in/Takeaway:	Eat-in
Recommended dishes & drinks	Dim Sum – Cheung funs; turnip pastes. Dessert – Black sesame glutinous balls.
Vegetarian dishes	Yes
Loyalty card	No.
Website	http://www2.royalchinagroup.biz/
Notes	Upmarket Chinese restaurant bringing high quality Chinese food. Mainly specialising in dim sum and Cantonese dishes. Expect to pay a lot more than your usual Chinese restaurants.

After 5 + City Pig’s analysis

Royal China Club is the upper end of the well-established Royal China restaurant group.

It prides itself with its reputation of delivering high quality dim sum and Cantonese dishes.

Its restaurant sets it apart from its competitors as offering tasty and consistently well cooked Chinese food.

I went to Royal China Club as I am a fan of the Royal China group restaurants and was curious to see what was more special.

The inside of the restaurant does not feel that much different from the other Royal Chinas. Here you will find a contemporary looking Chinese restaurant.

We were asked to sit in one of the private rooms as the main restaurant was already full.

The dim sum here is much more expensive than standard Chinese restaurants because of the variety of dim sum found here and the quality.

The menu consists of other ingredients that may not be the standard dim sum e.g. there may be fish dumplings rather than pork or prawn. Expect to see other more interesting dumplings and be brave and try them. I found a fried roll with fish and aubergine tucked inside with a black bean sauce dip. Most of the standard dim sum dishes are here as well e.g. turnip paste which was not greasy at all.

The dim sum is very tasty and is very high quality for outside of South East Asia. I know that a lot of people from Hong Kong who come to London also recognise that Royal China delivers excellent Chinese cuisine.

Sometimes the staff can be a little distant and not attentive. This seems to be a common theme in London Chinese restaurants unfortunately. I found the price to be very expensive as most Chinese dim sum averages about £12-£15.However, I thoroughly enjoyed the food and the creativity in some of the dim sum created. It is very authentic despite being top end, it has Chinese people eating here too.

square meal