3 /5 Travelling Doc: Around a 10-minute walk from Jubilee Place in Canary Wharf (even cutting through Cabot Place), Royal China is usually a convenient spot in the area.
We visited on the second day of Chinese New Year, so the restaurant was understandably busy. However, the experience felt quite disorganised from the start. Although we arrived only 10 minutes late, we were left waiting a further 10 minutes for our table.
When booking, we had noted that we would be bringing a baby pram/buggy, but this hadn’t been recorded in their system. Staffing levels were clearly stretched — the bartender mentioned that several staff had returned to China for the celebrations.
We brought a bottle of champagne and asked about corkage. There seemed to be confusion: initially we were told £30, later clarified as £30 for wine and £50 for champagne. This was eventually confirmed a few days later with an email from head
office.
We were also advised that, due to it being a busy week, we could pay corkage in cash so it wouldn’t appear on the bill — which felt a bit questionable.
Service was slow throughout the evening. We arrived around 19:00, but our champagne wasn’t served until 19:15–19:20, about 25 minutes after arrival. The bartender did apologise and explained they were understaffed.
The whole duck arrived at 19:24. The flavour was good, but the skin was lukewarm, as if it had been sitting before service — enjoyable, but not excellent. The rice accompaniment only arrived after the duck had already been served.
Our vegetable dish came at 20:19 — almost an hour after the duck and 90 minutes after we had been seated. It tasted good, but the pacing of dishes was completely out of sync. By this point, it felt like courses were being sent out sporadically rather than cohesively. There was such a long gap afterwards that we eventually cancelled the beef ho fun.
The whole seabass arrived at 20:22, nearly an hour after the duck and about 90 minutes after we sat down and ordered. It was actually excellent — perfectly cooked — but again, the wait took away from the experience.
Dessert (pancakes with black bean paste) arrived at 21:02, over two hours after we had been seated. It was average and slightly oily.
The staff were friendly and warmly greeting guests with “Happy Chinese New Year,” which was appreciated. Unfortunately, despite the festive atmosphere, this wasn’t the best place to celebrate CNY. The food quality had potential, but the disorganisation and pacing issues significantly detracted from the overall experience.