Dim Sum and an Evening of Theatre with Ping Pong in Covent Garden

Cocktails, wine, dim sum and the latest West End musical – just a few of my absolute favourite things. While it hasn’t been long since I last dined on a little too much dim sum, it has been a rather long time since I visited the theatre. I can’t quite recall the last show I watched, but I remember not being impressed and leaving through the interval. But once again I found myself at another show, but not before a very conveniently located dinner at the well-know next door restaurant – Ping Pong in Covent Garden.

Whilst we actually went off track a little and ordered some other dishes from the main menu, Ping Pong have recently teamed up with Kinky Boots to exclusively offer diners a ticket to the show which includes a pre-complimentary dim sum feast and a Kinky Martini at Ping Pong Covent Garden for just £39.50. A bit of a
bargain if you ask me! I’ve always loved watching the movie Kinky Boots and so this was the perfect opportunity to see it on stage.

We started our evening at Ping Pong Covent Garden at 6pm with a nice bowl of celery sea salt dusted edamame and that Kinky Martini which while tasty, was missing its “fabulous components” of star anise and I believe some sort of dusting around the rim of the glass. Still, it tasted great.

Dining at Ping Pong meant we of course had to sample some of the restaurants selection of dim sum and first out were our favourites from this pre-theatre dinner. Beef satay dumplings looked great and while not particularly traditional, the flavours really worked. We also loved the delicious special Chinese New Year crispy lamb gyoza dumplings. Rather unusual in texture and flavour, but again only for good reasons. Well-filled, lots of flavour and the texture of that pastry was lovely.

A must order is the chicken & cashew nut dumplings. Excellent wheat flour pastry, rich filling and a nice streak of chilli running through it all. One dish I sadly didn’t enjoy was the Shanghai chilli wonton. Flavour wise it was pleasant enough, but they were unfortunately over-cooked and I didn’t quite see why they were served on a bed of rocket leaves. Served in bamboo or in a bowl saturated in chilli sauce and they’d have been ever better.

Our favourite part of this meal wasn’t actually the dim sum, but these lovely little bao buns. Two fluffy bao pockets were on hand to stuff with your favourite filling. We went for the plump and very juicy chunks of generous soft shell crab, a little sweet chilli sauce and filled up on the accompaniments of pickled carrot & cabbage. If I came back to Ping Pong, I’d start with these first next time and work my way through the different fillings.

Another dish we enjoyed was the crispy calamari. A classic which never fails to disappoint and in any restaurant it’s something we can’t quite stop ourselves from ordering. The crunchy batter was perfectly golden and the seasoning was just right.

We sipped on our last glass of our wine and then popped next door to the Adelphi Theatre which was only seconds away from the restaurant – just in time for our show. With songs by Grammy and Tony winning pop icon Cyndi Lauper, this fabulously sassy musical is all about the friendships we discover, and the belief that you can change the world when you change your mind.

In all honesty I was completely blown away by Kinky Boots and I highly recommend to anyone who’s been thinking of booking, but not quite got that far in the process. The theatre seats are some of the most comfortable I’ve come across and this will without a doubt be the best musical you’ll see all year. When paired with this fabulous Ping Pong offer there really is no excuse not to book.

Kinky Boots has teamed up with Ping Pong to exclusively offer a ticket to the show alongside a delicious Dim Sum feast, topped off with a FABULOUS Kinky Martini cocktail starting at just £39.50! Click HERE to book.

NB: Our meal was complimentary. All views are as always, my own. My views are not influenced by anyone other than my own palate and slightly poor eyesight.