Ping Pong Dim Sum | New Autumn Winter Menu Review

I finally visited Ping Pong for date night after being invited to try their new autumn/winter menu, and it was absolutely glorious! The contemporary and lively group of restaurants have popped up all over the city in recent years, and pride themselves in serving Dim Sum, cocktails and Chinese teas.

Dim Sum is small bite-sized food, steamed to perfection and served alongside fried, griddled or rice dishes. The fun is in the sharing, which Ping Pong encourages, and allows you to taste a selection of dishes in one sitting.

 

Ping Pong invited me and Russell down to their Stratford branch to try their latest exciting flavours from Asia on their new menu which is brimming with unique dishes inspired by street food. 

The restaurant has an open kitchen where you can watch chefs steam the food up-close and personal. With lots of food to share and many talking points, Russell and I thought it was the perfect location for a date.  

The new menu is inspired by the rich colours of autumn and the comforting food that we all crave once the temperature drops. We ordered A LOT of food, so here's what we thought of each dish (listed in order of picture appearance):   

Thai style prawn and scallop soup - £5.25
This coconut, galangal and lemongrass soup contained glass noodles, prawn, scallop, straw mushrooms and coriander. It was a welcoming change to the big bowls of ramen and pho we've currently been scoffing, and nice to see seafood as the star of the dish.

Black prawn dumplings - £3.95
The squid ink pastry was a little clackerty as we left it to steam too long on our table, however the king prawn and garlic filling was rich with flavour.

Wontons with a spicy peanut sauce - £5.25
We started our meal with these vegetable wontons and they were an absolute delight when dipped in the peanut, garlic, ginger and chilli dressing.




Chilli Pork Tenderloin - £5.55
Who knew pork fillets could be so tasty? Served in a sesame and chilli marinade on lettuce and red araranth, we wish was had ordered two plates.

Four mushroom bun £3.35 

This fluffy bun is stuffed full of shiitake, enoki, oyster mushrooms, black fungus, carrot, mange tout and cashew nuts. A little heavy as we'd ordered so much, but extremely tasty.

Potato and edamame cake £3.25
Not much to look, this fluffy potato cake with soya beans and a crisp coating was one of my favourite dishes of the evening. Dipped in the chilli bean sauce it really came alive.

Veal and sesame spring roll £4.85
Packed with veal, pickled cucumber, miso, spring onion, carrot and sesame seeds, this little stick of flavour was a delight to eat.

Crunchy chicken and peanut salad £5.25
This chicken salad has everything you could wish for: avocado, red chard, rocke and a dash of peanut and soy dressing.

Spinach and mushroom dumpling £3.65
A classic dish done just right: the griddled pastry was bought alive with the spicy mango sauce 

accompaniment.

Chocolate fondant £4.45
Well, after all that food we had to make room for dessert, right? The rich chocolate pudding is filled with even more dark chocolate and served with vanilla ice cream - the perfect ending to a memorable meal.