Our ego takes a thrashing but our expectations are exceeded at Ping Pong
By The Prodigal Fool, published on 26 October 2009
We are also, incidentally, the most frightful snobs and instinctively wary of restaurant chains. It’s just not our scene, daaarling.
In all honesty, ordinarily we’re not sure we would have given Ping Pong a try. But here’s the thing: in addition to being annoying and a little stuck-up, we also suffer from fragile yet easily inflated egos. So, when the very nice people at Ping Pong emailed us recently to invite us to come and try their new autumn menu as their guests, two things happened pretty much instantly. Firstly, we convinced ourselves that it wouldn’t be long before A A Gill was pestering us for advice and, secondly, we nearly pulled a hamstring in our haste to get over to the computer to send back our acceptance.
And so it was that, with inflated egos and low expectations, we found ourselves making our grand entrance to Ping Pong’s Westbourne Grove branch a couple of Mondays ago.
“Good evening. We’re from…ahem…The Prodigal Guide” we announced coolly – with a mischievous yet sophisticated air – to the girl on the front desk. “I believe you’re expecting us.”
Girl looks underwhelmed. Checks her reservation book. “No.” is the honest and consequently devastating reply.
Not a great start.
So, a slightly less cool and rather more long-winded explanation ensues. Lilian, the manager on duty, is called over. Our iPhone’s inbox is shared and, soon, the confusion appears to be cleared up.
To this day, we’re not sure that Lilian ever truly believed our story about being hot-shot food bloggers there on special invitation but if so she certainly didn’t show it. With a professional smile and a welcome that felt genuine, she showed us to a table and made sure that a round of lychee rose martinis quickly found their way into our slightly sweaty palms. Exactly what was needed.
With egos readjusted and now slightly higher expectations, we surveyed the room.
The design is a little self-conscious but pleasant and modern. There’s certainly more space between the functional wooden tables that you might expect and the wood, black floor and tactically positioned spotlights combine to create a cool – dare we say – sexy atmosphere.
The menu is long but once you realise that the portions are small and each person will need to order four or three, four, possibly five dishes, you start to get the point of Ping Pong: it’s all about tasting, sharing (food and opinions) and not taking anything too seriously. We didn’t.
As you might expect, the food was a mixed bag. There were certainly some low points. The sauce that accompanied the squid satay for instance was thin and bland. The Szechuan pork crackling was more akin to something you’d find in a packet of Mr Porky. More successful but still a miss in our book were the black prawn dumplings in which the garlic was simply overpowering. Indeed a similar fate met the black sesame seed and vegetable dumplings: far too much garlic and they were also rather sticky and fell about before we could get them anywhere near our mouths.
But the highs more than outnumbered the lows: the har gau was sensational; the duck rolls tender and tasty and the scallop and shitake dumplings so good we had to order another portion just to be sure. Another standout was the seafood dumpling made out of carrot-based pasty: really delicious.
So, could you throw darts at the menu and always hit a winner? No. But there are far more winners here than losers and, because there’s always another dish waiting in the wings, it almost doesn’t matter. Wondering what the next basket holds is all part of the Ping Pong fun.
And fun it is. The very good cocktails will get you up and running and then the lively atmosphere and friendly staff will keep you smiling throughout.
There’s really only one way to end either a meal at Ping Pong or a review about it and that’s with jasmine tea. Watch as the jasmine flower at the bottom of the glass blossoms when it comes into contact with the hot water. Like Ping Pong itself, it’s a little gimmicky and not altogether authentic but, park your ego and your prejudice at the door and you’ll have a great night out. We did.
Ping Pong, 74-76 Westbourne Grove, London W2 5SH, Tel: +44 20 7313 9832
Our ego takes a thrashing but our expectations are exceeded at Ping Pong
Just returned from a couple of weeks in Hong Kong – including a lunch at the two Michelin starred BO Innovation – we are currently London’s most obnoxious, self-proclaimed dim sum experts. We can wax lyrical about the little parcels all day long. We are also, incidentally, the most frightful snobs and instinctively wary of [...]
2 Responses to “Our ego takes a thrashing but our expectations are exceeded at Ping Pong”
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16 February 2010
[...] we said when we reviewed the Westbourne Grove branch last October, Ping Pong isn’t the most authentic of Asian dining experiences but that’s hardly the point. [...]
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1 January 2010
[...] to the ancient art of Dim Sum making. We wrote up to very different examples of its execution: Ping Pong in Notting Hill and Hong Kong’s BO Innovation. Both were pleasing in very different [...]