Canton Blue at Peninsula

The power of branding

Dim sum selection

The Peninsula Hotel is one of the biggest hotel openings in London in 2023, the hotel brand's Hong Kong site is highly regarded as the most luxurious hotel in Hong Kong, and the London site cost over 1 billion pounds in the making. As a Chinese hotel brand, a high-end Chinese restaurant was always on the card for the London site. This came in the form of Canton Blue, and stated it pays homage to innovative Cantonese cuisine. This is somewhat of a strange statement as looking into the menu, its offering is not a great deal different vs anything you see in ChinaTown, but at a sky-high cost with most dishes costing over the £30 mark.

Chicken siu mai

Prawn har gow

Vegan dumplings and seafood spring rolls

I went for mostly dim sum dishes given it was a lunch occasion. The most enjoyable one was the pan-fried beef pastry, it had a lovely crispy surface, not too oily and the filling of peppery beef and preserved vegetables offered a lovely richness of taste. On the other hand, the steamed vegetable dumplings had a really thick and chewy pastry, and the fillings lacked any flavours, it was really underwhelming. The classic har gow, a prawn dumpling failed to impress me given it tasted just like any standard Chinese restaurant across China Town, but Canton Blue's version charges £14, while it would cost you less than £5 in most other places.

Baked pepper chicken

Wagyu beef fried rice

Peppery beef pancakes

There isn't a great issue around the food offering from Canton Blue, but it just doesn't justify the high-end pricing. The menu was so standard, and the dishes that came out from the kitchen had no surprise element. You are paying for the impressive decor, and the power of the Peninsula Hotel branding, you are not paying for the quality of the cooking. For those who love a luxury life, maybe you would enjoy dining at Canton Blue, but if you are a serious foodie looking for good value for money and great taste, best go elsewhere.

Food 3/5


Average cost without drinks and services:
£90


The Peninsula, 1 Grosvenor Pl, London SW1X 7HJ

https://www.peninsula.com/en/london/hotel-fine-dining/canton-blue