Diane H.
Yelp
Oh, I love this place. Thanks YELP London for introducing this place to me! I had time today for a sit down lunch, so I went to Beijing Dumpling, plus I was craving chinese fooddd soo much, and xiao long baos? OH YES! This place is so close to the tube, I only stopped because I saw people making the xiao long baos in the window and I looked up and was interested only to realize it's where my destination is! I came at 2, there was only one other person there at the time...and like 3 servers and 2 xiao long bao makers... You can watch them make it if you stand outside the window, a little weird, but hey, if you interested...
They seated me, and I asked if I can switch to a bigger table, since yenno, there was no one there and i wanted to put my bag and coat next to me, but I didn't realize they had hooks on the wall, but nonetheless, i like big tables. So they gave me a table that can sit 4..LOL, usually parties of 2 get these. The servers are very polite, can be more cheery though, some of them... I ordered the "spicy sichuan dandan noodles" and the pork xiao long baos. Each was 5 pounds.
My noodles came pretty quick, and my oh my, were they delicious in their own little way, and the fact that I was starving!! It's not regular dan dan noodles I was used to, and I've been to china and all that jazz, so I know how it goes! But these seem legit, though very very thick, kinda like udon, except better? The soup was not too spicy, it was perfect, and I cannot handle much spicy, so I guess it's definitely toned down a notch.
The xiao long baos came slightly afterwards, and it comes in 8 of them. They are mini xiao long baos...I was worried it would be too much, cause really, me and noodles and 8 gigantic xiao long baos?!?! After getting over the shock at their size, i took my chopstick, grabbed one, dipped it into the vinegar, and with my spoon, pinched a little hole, sucked up the soup...mmMMMMMMmmmm. SO GOOD. I love the fact that it didn't rip when i picked it up, NONE OF THEM DID!! The skin was soo soft, so fresh, so moist, but not too moist/soggy, and it wasn't hard, it was just..perfection. It tasted so good too. It's almost as good as shanghai ones.
I would come back just for the xiao long baos... wow London, you keep on impressing me! Oh, this place is mighty big too, downstairs wasn't opened, but there are more tables there...and the top floor is quite large too if you keep walking. Bathrooms are downstairs! Oh, and everyone that came pretty much ordered the same thing, xiao long baos...and maybe dan dan noodles.