Restaurants

Is there anywhere better in London to drink beer, watch football and feast on dim sum? This pub/ Chinese restaurant is steered and cheffed by Ngan Tung Cheung, formerly of the Dorchester hotels (now closed) Michelin-starred Oriental restaurant. The business began with great promise in 2006, yet has spent its second year searching for its feet. The decor is pub-like the walls an industrial slate grey, the furniture cobbled together out of bits of trees. Food on our visit ranged from the sublime to the disappointing. Steamed vegetable dumplings with wrappers coloured green by broccoli had a subtlety that betrayed the pedigree of the chef; honey-barbecued pork was wonderfully sweet; and pork and prawn dumplings tasted far fresher than in many Chinatown spots. However, pan-fried and steamed chilli chicken was sickly sweet, and drowned in a red sauce that tasted of tomato paste. Vegetable chow mein was a mass of bland fried noodles with very few vegetables; it required a heavy dose of chilli sauce to muster any flavour. We might head here for the football and the unusual atmosphere, but Old China Hand isnt yet a destination for dim sum.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008