"So I did Ping Pong twice in a week. Once with a friend because it was local (St Paul's) and second, because I was at Wembley for a concert and it was the one with the smallest queue. Ping Pong has never really been a draw for me in the past, its never been a case of I MUST GO THERE. I have passed it several times when in Westfield Stratford and settled on Bumpkin, Busaba Eathai, even TGI Friday's. I am starting to come around to dim sum. With recent visits to Hakkasan, Bintang and Mama Lan, these tasty Chinese style bite sized pockets of goodness are growing on me. Ping Pong spaces are always quite big. I love the dark wood and rich chocolately interior. I live for the island seating, watching the Chefs do their thing (not at all locations). For now, I will focus on Wembley, simply because I was impressed with the seamless service regardless of the fact that it was mad busy with concert goers everywhere. We queued for 45 minutes which is to be expected with 65,000 people in the area. This was made up of actually standing in the queue and then having a drink at the bar. The system they have is good, they take your mobile and call you when your table is ready. This is the only way for them to successfully navigate through the traffic of bar customers and queuing hungry people. At the bar, my only negative so far was that the wine was not chilled so we needed ice. Diluted wine is not a good thing. Once we were sat, our waitress was unaffected by the demanding clientele in her section, was chirpy and attentive. The sequence of service was flawless. Drinks arrived promptly, food arrived as it was ready. The food was good. All the staff floated around the room, appearing to be in control. If there was tension, I could not see it. This site is obviously built for volume on days like this and they have the right team to facilitate it. In terms of food, I will amalgamate both dining experiences as they were on par. We went all out ordering duck spring rolls, prawn on toast with mango salsa and soft shell crab. There was also prawn and chive dumplings, I had black prawn dumpling. Honeyed chicken and mushroom rice pot and vegetable sticky rice completed the banquet. I think that Ping Pong lends itself well to sharing. There is so much goodness, it would be rude not to share. I will continue my dim sum journey and if Ping Pong happens to be in the vicinity, it will certainly be considered for another visit."
