Red Farm in Covent Garden is the London outpost of the trendy New York Chinese restaurant. We’ve never been to either of Red Farm’s New York Restaurants, but Red Farm London is loud, confident, and casually stylish just as you’d expect in a trendy New York restaurant.

We first became aware of Red Farm London at the London Burger festival last month where we enjoyed their very creative cheeseburger spring roll.

We checked out the restaurant’s menu and were immediately sold by their intriguing dim sum menu (we love dim sum). Dinner was reserved right then.

Dinner was fairly late last Friday evening and there wasn’t an empty seat in the restaurant, which to be fair is quite snug. Maybe because of how busy it was, the service was fairly sluggish, but when they did attend to us the service was friendly and very helpful.

Now, the food…

Starters

This was so much better than we expected. The lamb was so succulent and Szechuan Cumin spice added a good subtle kick.

The Pork Belly was all me as you’d expect, and I enjoyed every slice. It was thoroughly steeped in flavour and soft.

We both loved this. Perfectly crisp pieces of beef and it was well spicy. It wasn’t too sticky either and all the ingredients tasted fresh and natural.

Dim Sum

The dumplings didn’t quite live up to the presentation, but that’s more about the presentation which needs to be applauded. The dumplings were good… simple flavours and light delicious pastry.

I loved this. Again, the creativity in the presentation needs to be applauded but this time the taste of dumplings outmatched the presentation. Each delicious dumpling had a unique prawn filling which was packed into the tasty pastry. Every bite was a mouthful to savour.

First things first, the mushroom ragout was amazing. The chicken dumpling was tasty but with a fairly simple flavour, and the pastry had a lovely crisp bottom. Plus, like the prawn dumpling, each dumpling was heartily filled.

This was really good as well. A lot of the flavour was from the hoisin, but the dumpling itself was still commendable, especially the succulent beef filling.

Special

This was just as delicious as it looks… maybe even more delicious… well, besides the caviar which was unnecessary. But then, we aren’t fans of caviar. All the other elements of the dish were fantastic, especially the seared scallops.

Dessert

Awesome! We’ve had a few bad experiences with custard bao but, needless to say, this was the best we’ve ever had. The custard was was rich and delicious and the bao itself was so soft and not too sweet. Top notch dessert.

Verdict

We really enjoyed our dinner at Red Farm London. It’s incredibly vibrant, the service is friendly, and the food is excellent and creative. We recommend for casual dates if you don’t mind the noise, group dinners with friends, family or colleagues (max 6), and everyone that enjoys dim sum. Red Farm London is fairly expensive.

Cuisine: Chinese (All Day Dim Sum)
Dress Code: Casual
Shiima’s Star Dish: Pac Man Shrimp Dumplings
Amen’s Star Dish: Shrimp & Spinach Dumpling with Seared Scallops & Caviar
Price: £30-£40pp (excluding alcohol)
Rating: 5 out of 5

Red Farm London
9 Russell Street
London, WC2B 5HZ
Reserve at OpenTable,
Or Call 0203 883 9093