God how we’ve missed dim sum. Ordering dish after dish of steamed buns and dumplings. Each of which is brought to the table fresh and hot! We have tried to buy frozen dumplings from local Asian grocers – but they did not even compare to the stuff you get at restaurants like Ping Pong. We even tried to make our own from scratch one night – and these weirdly shaped dough balls did not suffice our appetite for dim sum either.
So, thank the gods for Ping Pong’s new DIY dim sum kits. You just need to go to their website, order a massive bunch of dishes (even some bamboo steamers if you need them) and wait for the box of goodies to arrive a few days later.
Each dish comes packaged in recyclable containers (we really can’t stand all the single-use plastics you get in DIY kits these days) and has some super easy cooking instructions. For most of the dumpling and buns, all you need to do is steam them for 4-8 minutes. It’s the easiest kit you’ll find about.
And there are so many to pick from. Of course, we went for the classic char siu buns (two orders for good measure) and were not disappointed. These fluffy Cantonese buns are stuffed with barbecue pork. These pillows of joy smash any frozen variety out of the park. And even the vegetarian versions were well worth ordering. There was a good spice, variety of vegetables and the same sweet and salty gooeyness which paired well with soy sauce and chilli sauce.
The traditional prawn har gau are another win! They stuff plenty of fresh prawns into these bad boys. And they are covered with a really delicate dumpling pastry. Bite into these to get those delicious prawns popping in your mouth.
Our guide to outdoor dining in the City of London
But it ain’t all dumplings and buns. One of our favourite dishes was the duck spring rolls. We have never had these before (usually opting for the vege versions). But damn, these were wicked. You could really taste the slow cooked duck which had a slightly sweet yet still savoury thing going on. We only needed to heat them up in the oven for a few minutes too – we wish we ordered more of these!
And we can go through all their offerings without mentioning the smoked chilli chicken wings. Throw these in the oven for about 25-minutes and cover them in the heavenly spicy and smoky sauce. You’ll make a proper mess as you eat these sticky beasts. They are so moorish.
And like with most times we eat out, we were sure to pick one thing we had never had before. Just to experiment a little. It’s always worth trying something new. This time, it came in the form of their prawn and scallop sticky rice parcels wrapped in lotus leaves. Oof. These were good. The sticky rice had just the right amount of fishiness in it, and plenty of little bits of prawn and scallop. These looked and tasted mighty special.
But remember that dim sum is all about eating these dishes in random orders. Going from a chicken and cashew dumpling, to a vegetable bun, to chicken wings, to won ton dumplings and then back to spicy chicken wings again! Order more than you think you’ll need (leftover dumplings are great) and just feast. Nothing on this dim sum menu will disappoint. Trust us, we had just about everything they offer. It’s the perfect easy at-home meal kit.
