China Tang

Chinese with plenty of style

CHINA TANG
at The Dorchester, Park Lane, W1
020 7629 9988

A TRULY sumptuous Chinese restaurant at this elegant hotel in Park Lane celebrate their first year this September.
From the main entrance of the Dorchester, you walk through the lobby and arrive at China Tang. You can also enter through their front door in Park Lane.
Stairs lead you to the large bar and restaurant downstairs. The interior is quite impressive. Everything has been designed with exquisite taste by the owner, Mr Tang.
The main bar is a good meeting place which opens from 11.30am to midnight and dim sum is served at all times. The lighting is right and you can comfortably spend time there for any occasion.
Two large lamps in the shape of pears stand on opposite corners and comfortable banquettes with small tables are dotted around the room.
The beautiful shiny rosewood walls are decorative and functional as they conceal large TV screens that can be used for meetings and entertainment. The four small and medium size private rooms have sliding doors making them into a long private room that can accommodate up to 90 at one table.
A beautiful 17th-century five-litre decanter from Austria adorns one of the round tables.
The restaurant has been cleverly set up with a mezzanine overlooking a large square area with art deco pillars in the style of 1920s Shanghai. Two huge murals of fish painted on silk screen are the centre pieces at the far end and one side of the room. Table 5l (mezzanine level) for two is ideal – from here you can view everybody and everything.
The mezzanine converts into a private room from where you can see the restaurant through the sliding dark doors but nobody can see you. Lovely bookcases with antique Chinese books dating back 600 years surround this area.
The second bar is brightly lit with four chandeliers in the shape of cages with Swavorski crystals that look like doves to re-enact an old Chinese custom when people would bring their caged birds to the dining table.
There is a quaint Chinese clock in the shape of a cage with a bird inside that sits on a standing lamp next to a cabinet with bottles of whisky, brandy and Calvados.
The bottles themselves are collectors’ pieces. A glass of the 50-year-old Macallan Scotch Whisky in the Lalique bottle costs £8 – double measure of course. But this is nothing compared to a glass of 120-year--old Timeless from Henessey at £1,250 the glass. The most expensive item in this cupboard is the rather ordinary looking half bottle of 1853 Duchess of Westminster brandy – the only one in the world worth £21,000.
You must be selective when ordering otherwise you may find that inadvertently you have spent £50 in the first course alone (for one) – China Tang’s Shark’s Fin Soup. Luckily I am not particularly fond of Shark’s fin soup.
Instead I can recommend the pork and watercress soup (£6), their interesting dim sums — Vegetarian, Scallop and Pork dumplings (£4 each). The honey spare ribs (£6) and the spring onion cakes (£4) were delicious.
To follow I was impressed by their classic lamb brisket (£15) – very tender and comes in a terracotta pot cooked in its own juice. This and a bowl of steamed rice (£3) was plenty for the two of us. The bottle of Rose Chateau La Coste (£40) was excellent. Mr Lloyd Loudy, the manager, presides with efficiency and charm.