The crab and pork dumplings, sweet and savoury, are the best of the lot if anything, cold plates such as slivers of pork wrapped around crushed garlic are the tastiest things on offer here. In truth, it helps not to know the hype, as the dumplings are competent rather than compelling, though the sight of a troupe of white-masked chefs beavering away in the glass-walled kitchen with the precision of surgeons to ensure that each stock-filled dumpling arrives at the table with the required 18 pleats is undeniably impressive. The story goes that Din Tai Fung was founded by Chinese immigrant Yang Bing-yi in Taiwan in 1972 and the brand now extends to a global empire of over 150 restaurants famous for the house speciality of xiao long bao, the Shanghainese soup dumplings that once earned the Hong Kong Din Tai Fung a Michelin star (it makes do with a Bib Gourmand these days). The addition of a Centre Point branch means that queues have subsided at the Covent Garden outpost of an international chain that arrived in London in 2018 with an intriguing backstory. Deep-pocketed diners should check out Royal China Club a few doors up where the dumplings are made from scratch from premium ingredients, though the atmosphere isn’t nearly as joyous as here, where large tables of Chinese families feel straight out of a Hong Kong Sunday. Illustrated menus make this a user-friendly place for diners new to dim sum (order spicy chicken feet and you can’t say you weren’t warned), with quality high enough to ensure Cantonese connoisseurs will leave impressed with the likes of fresh-as-a-daisy prawn and chive dumplings or roast pork buns as fluffy as cotton wool. The original Queensway outpost closed during lockdown but the cooking at the Baker Street Royal China has, somehow, always tasted better, even though the dim sum for all five branches is prepared in a central kitchen.

to 5 p.m.Before anyone knew the difference between har gau and siu mai, queues would form every weekend outside the Bayswater branch of this mid-market Chinese chain in the days when queueing was unusual, not ubiquitous. The Dim Sum Feast is served everyday from 12 p.m. There’s a truly excellent value Dim Sum Feast lunchtime option with “Mix & Match” dim sum, that includes three plates of dumplings from the lunchtime menu for just £12.90, rather than the customary £5.90 per item. The new lineup also includes the must-try Spicy Pork Soup Large Xiao Long Bao, Chopped Chilli Mixed Seafood Soup Xiao Long Bao, and Sweet Corn Soup Xiao Long Bao, which instantly brings one back to childhood and bowls of warm sweetcorn soup served in Chinatown back in the day. Last but not least, the return of the Xiao Long Bao, the warm and hugely irresistible Chinese Soup Dumpling, coated in vinegar. There is frequently an excellent selection of Traditional Jiaozi Dumplings, steamed and pan-fried, loaded with veggies, chicken, prawns, and pork, as well as the ever-popular Chengdu Jiaozi, a Baozilnn Classic. Wantons doused in chilli oil are a must, and they’re available here loaded with pork and chicken, or prawns. A post shared by BaoziInn Soho on to the Dumpling category, which includes, among other things, Baozilnn’s iconic traffic light Dim Sum, Prawn and Chive Dumpling, Vegetable Kohlrabi Dumpling, Har Gau, and Chicken Chiu Chow Dumpling.

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