Noble Palace

Secret dim sum club

Blue swimmer crab dumpling

High-quality dim sum is hard to come by in London, especially recently with the first generation of Chinese dim sum chefs slowly retiring. My to go to value for money dim sum has to be Gold Mine in London. For high-end, Park Chinois comes to mind, but it is extremely expensive and is a dress-up occasion venue. For something sitting in between, I can't think of a place until Noble Palace launched in the summer. The 'secret' restaurant/club doesn't even have a website, so is kind of a hidden oasis for people in the known. For lunch hours, it offers about 25 kinds of dim sums as al la carte, traditional style but using top-grade ingredients. 

Truffle and pumpkin dumpling

Siu mei

Seabass roll

The stand-out dim sum without a doubt is the pork shumai, that earthy aroma from the aged dried shitake was heavenly when it was combined with a slice of Iberico ham, it created such a powerful umami taste. The XO scallop dumpling was another winner, the squid ink pastry had a wonderfully chewy texture, and worked so well with the sweet and moist taste of the Scottish scallop. Lastly, the prawn rice roll was presented almost like a sushi roll, it contained some delightful giant Canadian prawns with a good load of shrimp roe. It tasted so great on its own that I didn't think the soy sauce was needed as a seasoning.

XO scallop dumpling

Crab & taro

Shrimp and roe rice roll

In terms of refinement, Park Chinois is still the king of dim sum in London, but Noble Palace is not far from behind and at a lower price point. I enjoyed the offering isn't widely silly with some strange creative twist, just sticking to the traditional vibe, but with a great level of craftsmanship and taking advantage of fine quality ingredients. Noble Palace is a great restaurant for dim sum but be aware is for lunch only. For dinner hours, it turns into a special no-menu concept venue, which you can find out more about here.

Food 4/5


What I paid: 
£65 per head, with tea

Average cost without drinks and services:
£40 (lunch)


Caxton St, London SW1H 0PY