The ever-popular Royal China on Queensway, which comes of age this year, has just been given a facelift: One of the world’s youngest – and harshest – restaurant critics put it through its paces.
The adults in our party loved the picture menu at the Royal China. My seven-year-old goddaughter, Lily, was less impressed. Admittedly she is too young to appreciate the wonderful retro appeal of the Royal China, being used to more contemporary offerings from the likes of Yo Sushi.
The delightfully old school Royal China is three times her age and in its 21 years has served tens of thousands of happy customers, who keep coming back for the winning timeless combination of superb service and consistently excellent food. Lily, counted ten other Chinese restaurants on this street, but the Royal China was the original and is still the best.
We decided against some of the more esoteric offerings such as baked lobster and fois gras, sautéed scallop and frogleg and eel and chestnut or even a whole Japanese wind dried abalone which rings in at 180 pounds. Instead, we went for some firm favourites – spring rolls, roast duck on rice, sautéed crab in its shell and ribs. All were absolute winners. The spring rolls were light, yet full of texture and flavour, the duck was succulent, its juices soaking deliciously into the sticky white rice and the crab was cooked to perfection – crispy, meaty and delicately flavoured.
Lily, my goddaughter isn’t necessarily hard to please but she certainly knows what she likes. ‘They were my favourite,’ she said of the juicy ribs, while making sure she got more than her fair share of the other starters. As she rested her chopsticks, satisfied, on the silver ‘spoon saver’ in the shape of the dragon, the kindly head waiter patiently explained the significance of the exquisite gold and black motifs that covered the walls.
‘The big waves and the beautiful birds are auspicious,’ he said as we all listened intently. ‘That means good luck,’ (they certainly have been for the Royal China), he went on, addressing Lily before offering her another lemonade and bringing our next course. Scallops the size of a baby’s fist with tender asparagus, crunchy noodles and perfectly cooked seafood, and spicy tender chicken were met with all round approval.
It was early – 6.30pm – on a Tuesday evening and the restaurant seemed crowded to us, but the waiter said it was normally much fuller than this – ‘packed’ in fact. And at weekend lunchtime, when the place filled up with eager dim sum fans, it was practically impossible to get a table, which was no surprise given the standard of the food and service.
What was a big surprise to all of us was the dessert course. Many of us – especially me – tend to skip ‘afters’ in an Asian restaurant, as it is rarely the highlight. But when strawberry and chocolate ice cream was ordered as a half term treat, the bigger kids followed suite – and were very pleased we did.
My bowl of green matcha tea and sesame ice cream was outstanding. My husband took a childish delight in his black sesame paste in peanut crumbs, even drawing a picture of them before declaring them a masterpiece. Lily’s dad enthused about his bowl of chillled lychees washed down with a fine pot of oolong. And when my champagne and lychee cocktail arrived – a pretty layering of bubbles and pink juice I could hardly contain myself – as if I were seven years old myself.
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