Dim Sum Delights at Mr Laus
Me and Chinese food have fallen out of love recently. Once inseparable, I grew bored of ordering the same luminous orange sweet and sours I once adored, the same soggy spring rolls I would once have relished and the same limp prawn toast I would once have Instagrammed proudly with a few love heart emojis.
Fortunately, this weekend I was swept of my feet by an incredible Dim Sum place just a bit further afield from my usual city centre haunts. It's called Mr Laus, it's in Warrington, and it is 100% worth the trip.
Just like the decor, the food here is cool, original and modern. The only problem you'll have is being absolutely spoilt for choice when it comes to ordering. If only the menu was a little bigger...
Making snap food decisions isn't my strong suit but with a cocktail in hand plus recommendations from Hungry Harriet lingering about in my mind we went for it and ordered up a few bowls from the delicious-sounding Dim Sum menu to start with.
First up, Sui Mai. You all know I'm a big fan of the deep fried salt and pepper variety (what Scouser isn't?) but I've always found the regular steamed ones to be rather limp and lacklustre. Here, these steamy little dumplings were firm, juicy and full to bursting with proper chunks of prawns and pork. Topped with tiny beads of orange caviar, they were a far cry from the flaccid grey lumps I'd gotten used to.
The success with the Dim Sum continued with a basket of War Tips. Half-moon shaped dumplings, half steamed, half fried with a super soft pork and herb filling. Served with a sweet and tangy dipping sauce, they were insanely good, and we polished them off in minutes.
Last but certainly no means least we ordered a portion of Fresh Scallops. Now I know these aren't something you'd usually see on a Chinese menu but these were really special. You'd think with a topping of soy, glass noodles, spring onions, chilli and garlic the sweet little scallop would be lost but it definitely held its own and was a great addition to our mini starter banquet.
Since we had drank so much prior to dinner (more on that in a blog post coming soon) our mains had to be big and carby and thankfully they delivered on both fronts. Mum went for Seabass' n' Chips, a Mr Lau's take on the classic, whilst I went for a familiar friend Not From Singapore Vermicelli. Having ordered Singapore noodles from almost every takeaway this side of the Mersey I wasn't expecting anything particularly mind-blowing. These were a million times better though and I'll tell you why- they came with an entire jug full of Chinese Curry Sauce to drizzle lavishly across the top.
If you're not looking at that and drooling then we can't be mates.
Those noodles sum up Mr Lau's menu as a whole for me. Just great, Chinese classics done really well and a few Mr Lau's surprises on the way.
Just like this one! ^ If it's good enough for Phil Collins, it's good enough for me.
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