Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 5 and Version 4 of Tuli, SE1 2TF

Large Chinese restaurant on Tooley Street near London Bridge Station.

The entry to the restaurant is a former railway building, and the restaurant itself is housed in one of the railway arches. It opened in early 2010 as a pan-Asian buffet restaurant, but changed to an à la carte Cantonese menu later the same year. The new incarnation is quite smart, with white-clothed tables and an open, airy feel. As of March 2011 they offer dim sum "all day" (not sure exactly what this means though).

Kake, bob, and some of bob's colleagues visited for a couple of dim sum lunches in spring 2011, both times on a Thursday. Arriving around 1pm both times, there were several other parties in but plenty of spare tables. Peaceful music was playing, a mix of Chinese and Western classical.

From the cold dishes section of the menu, "purple cucumber with smoked jelly garlic" (香蒜拍黃瓜/xiāng suàn pái huáng guā; £3.80) photo was actually ordinary cucumber dressed with a little chilli oil and a plentiful quantity of garlic that had been fried to the point of browning. It was pretty tasty.

Pork and preserved duck egg congee (皮蛋瘦肉粥/pí dà shòu ròu zhǒu; £4.80) was very good on our first visit, with plenty of shredded meat distributed evenly throughout, and sliced deep-fried doughsticks on top for a textural contrast. It was less good the second time; a little too watery, less meat, and what seemed to be shreds of fried spring roll skin instead of doughsticks.

Roast pork puff pastries (蜜汁叉燒酥/mì zhī chā shāo sū; £2.60) were nicely filled and served warm. Pan-fried turnip paste (蘿蔔糕/luó bo gāo; £2.60) was fine, as were minced pork and shrimp dumplings (siu mai) (蟹王蒸燒賣/xiè wá zhēng shāo mài; £2.60).

Steamed prawn dumplings (har gow) (水晶鮮蝦餃/shuǐ jīng xiān xiā jiǎo; £2.90) and scallop & spinach dumplings (菠菜帶子餃/bō cài dài zi jiǎo; £2.90) were less good, with thick, stodgy wrappers. The har gow on our second visit were overcooked to the point that the wrappers were falling apart.

Shanghai-style pork dumplings (上海小籠包/Shànghǎi xiǎo lóng bāo; £2.60) were juicy, but didn't contain the quantity of soup that a true 小籠包 should. Pan-fried pork dumplings (生煎鍋貼/shēng jiān guō tiē; £4.80), from the appetizer section of the menu, were good, with nice chewy skins.

Tea options were not listed on the menu, but included pu-er, tieguanyin, and jasmine, the latter two of which were charged at £1.50/head. (They may have a separate tea menu, judging by options listed on their website, but this wasn't offered to us when we asked what kinds of tea they had.) Our food came to just over £10/head the first time and £12/head the second, including the 12.5% service charge that was automatically added to the bill.

Kake's verdict: Although not the best dim sum I've ever had in London, this is far from the worst, and I like that they're offering things that the more mediocre places can't be bothered with, such as congee, cheung fun, and turnip paste. Similarly, although the main menu may seem at first glance to consist mainly of "X in Y sauce" type dishes, there are some interesting bits and pieces in there that make me think it would be worth an evening trip too — though I'd suggest going with someone who knows enough about proper Chinese food to be able to pick out the good stuff.

Accessibility: Step-free to get in, to the main dining area (there's a mezzanine up some steps which may have more tables, but there's plenty of space in the main area), and to the toilets. There's a separate accessible toilet, but in addition there's an extra-wide stall in the ladies' with grab bars and a door that opens outwards.

See also:

• Picky Glutton review
• London Eating comments

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