It may be a new year, but I can bet there’s one thing about this January that has been the same as all the Januaries that came before: the resolve to eat better, be it half-hearted or ambitious. I can admit that my resolve lies firmly in the half-hearted category, but I’ve also felt a fair amount of guilt (and ever-tightening trousers) as I’ve spent the first weeks of 2016 cooking creamy curries at home and ordering foie gras delicacies while out.
Touting a healthy menu for January 2016, I journeyed to Royal China – a long-time favourite in London for dim sum and Cantonese – for dinner and made the resolution to put on blinders to the indulgent and forgo tempting glazed chicken and piles of fried rice.
The restaurant holds up to its similarly chic neighbours in upmarket Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), decked out in warm wooden tones with plenty of red – a “lucky” colour in China – and slick, black geometric shapes typical of the Chinese aesthetic. The atmosphere is sedate and dignified, exemplified by a somewhat dark setting and a smattering of filled tables. While the restaurant is by no means packed (I have a feeling it’s probably more lively at lunchtime), a number of the diners there are Chinese – always a promising sign.
The venue has also recently unveiled a new garden terrace dining area, lit by flickering candles and surrounded by tall hedges for privacy. Slightly odd is the artificial grass carpeting the terrace, although it does complete the “garden” look. All in all, it’s a fairly tranquil, laid-back spot, but beats from The Ritz-Carlton DIFC’s neighbouring No.5 Lounge & Bar do drift over making for a somewhat unwelcome intrusion.
The healthy focus starts immediately. Eschewing fried dim sum for the steamed, a large bamboo steamer is placed at my table and the lid lifted to reveal carefully constructed dumplings – Royal China’s kitchen includes well-trained, dedicated dim-sum chefs – in a puff of steam. Prepared on bamboo leaves to avoid the use of oil, three types of pillowy parcels include vegetarian with fresh crunchy corn, peas and carrots; soft scallops; and savoury chicken with radish.
Luckily, eating healthy doesn’t mean you need to miss out on the restaurant’s signature crispy duck. First presented as a golden-roasted leg for my approval, the server then retreats to shred the leg and construct dainty fingers of crunchy duck with cucumber and spring onion wrapped in nearly-air-thin pancakes (goodbye carbs!). Lacking grease, and filled with straightforward and fresh ingredients, it’s an excellent alternative to including meat in your meal without going overboard.
Dipping into the questionably healthy, lightly fried crispy prawns covered in a thin glaze of creamy wasabi certainly held back on over-frying or drowning in sauce, but I’d recommend it only for big fans of the so-called Japanese horseradish, as the spice seems to pack a bigger kick in each bite, eventually tickling my nose. One prawn ahead of me at the time, my dining partner warns that “the third one hits you like a truck”.
Keeping the calorie count low, a good-sized fillet of steamed sea bass is succulent and subtly flavoured in a slightly sweet home-made light soya sauce. It matches well with mixed-vegetable crispy noodles, which follows theme in its dearth of grease or heavy qualities. A side of long Chinese broccoli is crunchy and lightly spiced by ginger, another dish that is marked by great flavour without feeling like you’re eating naughtily. Because I am a glutton for punishment (or perhaps more accurately, a weak-willed glutton), I succumbed to a dish of wagyu beef. Rich, decadent and definitely not healthy, the tender bites of juicy meat in a savoury mushroom sauce were worth going off script for.
The service is efficient and observant throughout (they even recognised me, having dined there just once before, a few months ago) and extraordinarily polite – all characteristics worth mentioning in Dubai, where service tends to leave many less impressed and more frustrated. With clean, fresh flavours and lacking thick, sweet sauces or heavy characteristics, it’s a lighter dining experience that doesn’t sacrifice taste – a good option worth considering for even the most resistant of healthy-resolution makers.
THE IMPORTANT BIT
