Dim Sum at Duddell's London - SilverSpoon London

Based on the Hong Kong original opening in 2013 Cantonese restaurant, Duddell’s in London opened a few years ago garnering much interest on the London food scene. With two-Michelin stars, a beautiful interior and a great location, the original had quite a lot to live up to… and I was excited to try the London version on suggestion from my friend and fellow blogger, Kristabel.

As with any restaurant, you’ll judge the interiors before the food … and Duddell’s is quite gorgeous with turquoise tiles, pink walls and brass fittings. Award winning architects Michaelis Boyd actually converted a historic St. Thomas Church in London Bridge to be the site of the restaurant.
He worked with the original Queen Anne architecture to create a design inspired by traditional 1960’s Hong Kong tea room, whilst using colours and shapes to crate a retro vibe. Not only is this a place to appreciate great food, but just like the original, it’s a place to enjoy art too.
Like this piece, OH…MY TOY! by Michael Lau, a Hong Kong based artist who has created this statue as a homage to his love of toys and religion in the appropriate setting of a deconsecrated church.

The menu at Duddell’s is on the pricey side of things and definitely something I’d splash out for on a special occasion but as we were only looking for a casual lunch we opted for the £24 weekday set menu. Just like in Hong Kong, you are given a list of what’s available and you tick the options that you’d like. For the set menu you’re given one piece each of the dim sum. We both order crispy char siu buns which were slightly sweet and fluffy and stuffed with a tasty pork filling. We also both chose a classic har gau dumplings whilst I had porcini prawn and Christabel had Imperial king crab and prawn. The steamed dim sum were absolutely perfect – I’m no expert but they were definitely among the best I’ve had.

We also ordered one dish from the dim sum lunch menu and again pan-fried dried shrimp cheung fun was a real success for us – a lady after my own heart, Kristabel and I both loved the chilli dipping sauce.

The set menu allows for a main course each; I went for wok fried monkfish in black bean sauce and my companion had black pepper beef, there’s then the choice of plain or egg fried rice. When I saw the portion I was worried it would be too small but actually it was perfect especially with the rice, and just so full of flavour. Set menus can often be a disappointment, but this one was definitely not! We were happy that we got to sample lots of things and enjoy the atmosphere of the restaurant without facing a huge bill at the end.