Traditional Dim Sum - Imperial China WC2

I've blogged about the fact that I love modern "posh" dim sum, in particular Yauatcha, but on a cold blustery London Sunday sometimes all you want is old school Chinatown dim sum.  The trouble is there are some pretty average places and unless you know where to go you end up with a disappointing experience and a future preference for Ping Pong as a safe bet.  Which is not a good thing as we should not let dim sum go the chain route.  Nothing against Ping Pong, I like it - but it should not replace the real thing.  So save yourself the grief and head to Imperial China on Lisle Street, it's GREAT.  Their dumplings are sublime - I particularly like the steamed prawn dumplings "in goldfish shape" (their inverted commas not mine!) which I ordered just to see if they did look like goldfish (they did, sort of) and they were so delicious.  The most important thing to me with any dim sum place is the char sui (steamed pork) buns and the versions here are really good - not as good as those at Yauatcha I have to say but still delicious.  The service, as I always find in Chinatown, is....somewhat brusque.  In fact one waitress cast such withering looks our way every time she came to the table it was a tad disconcerting - but in a weird way that adds to the Chinatown dim sum experience.  I love this place - just walking over the fake bridge into the restaurant makes me happy as I know I am about to have a top notch, super tasty dumpling feast and that to me is a perfect Sunday.