To be perfectly honest, I've never really liked Chinese food, so I thought if Royal China Fulham impressed me it was a particularly good sign.
Sure enough, I loved the food and will maybe now change my views about ordering Chinese.
I found each dish I tried delicious: abundant in exquisite flavours, perfect textures and pleasantly presented.
To start, I ordered a steamed fresh scallop with black bean sauce for £8.50.
The delicacy was a bit of a treat. It's not cheap for just one scallop, however, I only have compliments to give for the appetiser.
You can taste the high quality, and the sauce is so beautifully rich you wouldn't want more than one.
My friend ordered the steamed chilli pork dumplings, £6.80, which she was definitely happy with.
This is quite a substantial starter, but still light and healthy due to the dumplings being steamed.
Royal China Fulham advertise their dumplings as a highlight of the restaurant as well, so it was good to check these out and get positive reviews from my friend.
As my main meal I had the szechuan prawns, £13.50, which were amazing, with sticky rice.
I think the proportions of sweet and chilli flavours in this dish were spot on.
My dinner date had the crispy shredded beef, £9.80, and fried noodles with bean sprouts, £7.20.
The portions were huge, so with this main you definitely get value for money. It must have been good as well because not much was left by the end despite the size of the plate!
For dessert we decided to try something we had never had before - mango pudding, £4.50.
It was very interesting and unusual. It wasn't too sweet and had a really unique texture that I can only describe as somewhere in between jelly and custard.
This was complemented nicely with vanilla ice cream, £5. Light and fresh.
My only criticism of the experience was that we found the service a bit awkward. Staff seemed a bit put out when we asked for help with understanding the menu or asked for special requirements, such as if we could have the shredded beef without the 'birds nest' it usually comes with.
I cannot fault the food though and, as I said, for someone who is not usually a fan of Chinese cuisine, this dinner did well to convert me.
805 Fulham Road, SW6 5HE - 020 7731 0081
