Sunny Sunday

Even on a grey Sunday like today it is always possible to find a slice of sunshine somewhere in London. Today I tracked it down in a Chinese restaurant in Crossharbour. It was my first visit to the Lotus Floating restaurant but it certainly won't be my last. One of my favourite meals on a Sunday is dim sum, which consists of tasty parcels of beautifully shaped bite sized delicacies. In recent years this Cantonese staple has become fashionable and new-fangled providers have popped up all over town. Unfortunately, by en large these restaurants lack the finesse of flavours found in true dim sum eateries.  I am lucky to have parents who introduced me to this cuisine from an early age and have been enjoying dim sum ever since I can remember. I also lived in Hong Kong for a while, so I believe I can recognise the real deal dim sum. Without hesitation I would recommend Royal China in Queensway or Joy King Lau off Leicester Square and would happily add the Lotus restaurant to this list. The restaurant is light and airy, has relaxing views over the old dock and is packed with Chinese diners. If the long list of dishes is new to you, an enjoyable meal for two would be steamed char siu pau, prawn cheung fan, Vietnamese spring rolls, glutinous rice in lotus leaves with mixed meat and a sweet sunny treat of egg custard tarts as illustrated in today's photo. Wash it all down with Chinese tea and you will soon forget the gloomy November skies.