Another day, another trip to Harrow. Somehow it had managed to escape my attentions that a restaurant rated as one of the best for Dim Sum in London (if this is to be considered London) was located up here. I heard about it on egullet and looked it up, finding that not only is it a favourite of Campion but also rates a 4 in the Good Food Guide, pretty rare for a Chinese restaurant. I got out of work at about three and needed a late lunch, so I crossed my fingers and headed over, hoping it was still serving. As luck would have it, it was a Thursday, as it serves Dim Sum till 5pm Thursday and Friday (3pm on other days).

I had some difficulty getting in, the automatic door not appearing to work and a waitress looking straight through it and ignoring me. I thought it was shut after all, but eventually worked out how to open the door. Pretty embarrassing, I do wonder how I get by when so many day to day basic skills appear to be beyond my reach.

From there on in, service was impeccable. I mention this as usual, as again there is a raft of online comment complaining about service. I believe in the importance of good service, and honestly think I'm probably a bit too demanding in that regard. In fact I'm a bit of a grumpy git, so how come I always seem to get decent service in places where others don't? I hardly think my blog with its 3.5 readers is going to have got my picture on every maitre'd's noticeboard, and I don't sit there taking notes (hence the sometimes Winneresque vague nature of the reviews). What are you people doing in restaurants to piss everyone off?

The interior has been described as sleek, I'm not sure I'd go that far. I was taken into a large bright room, filled with large circular tables for families, and just a few two-tops. The chairs were the metal frame type usually reserved for wedding receptions. All of the tables had linen and some flowers making it a pleasant space. Well I say all, mine had a paper cloth- perhaps they had heard about my eating habits in advance? Despite the relatively late hour, the restaurant had a pleasant bustle, with several tables occupied with local families, mainly Chinese, and an Indian couple on a bizarre date that seemed to consist mostly of complaining about their respective former spouses.

I ordered several Dim Sum from an extensive menu, and the first to arrive was good old pork puffs. The pastry was excellent, just a hint of greasiness accentuating that they were a guilty pleasure. The filling however, was a little odd, not bad, in fact very enjoyable, just odd. It had far more onion and a far more liquid sauce than I am used to, meaning it had more than a hint of a mince and onion pie to it. Of course, the meat was barbecued pork and the 'gravy' was quite sweet. Whilst this was clearly made by them and not in a factory, overall I think I prefer the less oniony and liquidy examples.

Next up was the Prawn Ha Gao, described on the English menu outside as crystal prawn dumpling. The first one I picked up fell apart, but apparently this is because you should leave them a minute or so for the translucent wrapper to solidify. The wrapper on the others was close to perfect, perhaps the tiniest bit thick, but certainly not much. Thin enough to see the content clearly and obviously shaped by hand. The texture gave just a hint of chewiness and actually felt dry on the tongue, really very good. The filling too was first rate, the prawn sweet and bouncy and the portions not at all stingy, excellent.

Whilst eating the dumplings the owner, or at least a lady of some seniority, gently joshed me about my chopstick technique. (In fact she complimented it, not showing off here, Its pretty ropey and at the time I was struggling manfully to deal with my fallen apart dumpling and she very much had a twinkle in her eye, but it was friendly and good natured banter) I mention this to simply highlight that the service was not only efficient and cheerful, it went beyond that.

I finished with scallop dumplings, again the wrapper was good but a little thicker here so a little further away from perfection. The filling had more fresh tasting prawn, alongside a generous amount of scallops. The content was all well cooked, not overdone despite their time waiting for me to get to them in their steamer basket.

There were a whole host of other tempting treats on the menu, for which I'm eager to return, but on this occasion, I was trying to keep it light for both my wallet and waistline. The total with tea and service was less than a tenner, well in fact it was exactly a tenner as that's their minimum charge for a card and I had no cash on me. Still a bargain for food this delicious, amongst the best Dim Sum I've had.