Ping Pong

Catchy name, catchy concept - a chain of snazzy teahouses serving dim sum. More than a dozen Ping Pongs have bounced up around town in the past few years, and lunchtime business at this Oxford Circus branch is lively. You can see the attraction: slick service, stylish decor, swish drinks. We were given the choice of sharing a table downstairs or perching on slippery stools at a counter overlooking a two-storey glass atrium. The food slips down easily. Char siu baos were suitably robust and porky, and the chicken dumplings nicely piquant. But other dishes tended to taste sweet or bland or both, and portions were modest. The prawn in our har gau was so finely minced, and the crab in 'lucky' dumplings so well-mashed, that we couldn't distinguish between the two. Vegetable puffs and choi sum were equally soft and squidgy, and the spicy pork fillets weren't spicy at all - nor very Chinese, being more like wiener schnitzel. Doubtless everything is made in the kitchens here, but even if the whole chain was linked to a central production line the results could scarcely be further away from homemade dim sum.