Ping Pong Soho

This original Branch of Ping Pong is well past its old glory days. On a recent visit – probably our 12th – staff was grumpy, the new menu was less dependable than the old one and we ended up being treated quite rudely eventhough we played along with their questionable game of selling water+cocktails+tea+wine. When we ordered a second bottle of water we were told the bar was now closed and that we couldn't have any. This must raise an eyebrow. We still like the Notting Hill branch in the future.

This was my 2nd visit to a Ping Pong and I have loved both experiences! The food is superb, the staff friendly and helpful and the setting is great, to top it off it is also great value for money! I kicked off by tring one of their cocktails of which I am normally not a huge cocktail fan however the lemongrass and lime cocktail was so refreshing that I managed to drink 4! I would also highly reccomend the duck sping roll, ribs and crispy asparagus (very seasonal!). I will most definately be making another visit in the very near future…YUM!

I'd heard quite a lot (of good things) about Ping Pong, so popped in for a dim sum lunch last saturday. I found the whole thing a little disappointing to be honest. The ordering process, which is like a multiple choice exam, is quick and easy but didn't really promote the opportunity to ask about various dishes with which I was unfamiliar, or for the staff to enthuse about particular dishes.

Our choices made, we awaited our cocktails which, though they arrived toward the end our light lunch, were delicious. The puff pastry chicken parcel was like pukka pies chicken and mushroon slice, limp and bland, and tasted like it had been heated in a microwave. Next course – the dim sum proper: chicken and coriander steamed parcels, the filling was not melt-in-the-mouth, as it should be but was bland and like a slippery bullet, overpowered by the liberal use of coriander. Steamed spicy pork dim sum, was better, a tasty mixture but unceremoniously arranged so that the sticy dough, did just that – stuck to the side of the bamboo steamer so that when I tried to lift the parcel it split and the contents just spilled out. Incidently, this happened with the chicken ones too. I thought I was just being inept, but my partner had exactly the same problem. Cripsy duck spring rolls, fared better, but still way too average – good filling, but outer casing a little cardboard.

I found the interiors to be tired and unkempt – could really do with a re-paint and a little more contemporary pan asian design. The asian influenced garden was covered with an ugly blue tarpaulin, which rather spoils the whole Zen serenity thing! Ping Pong has long queues almost every night, have i missed its charms or does it owe its popularity to the paucity of decent places to eat in that nether region of west soho?