Rabbiting on at Plum Valley

Gerrard Street was heaving at Chinese New Year

With the working week finished and the prospect the weekend stretching out in front of you, there's always a buzz in the air on Friday night in town. This was especially the case the other night, what with this weekend being Chinese New Year. Gerrard Street was throbbing with revellers, tourists and hungry people like me and L who had decided to meet up for some dim sum at one of China Town's newest establishments, Plum Valley.

Plum Valley's sleek, black minimalist exterior looks like a swanky members' bar. Inside it eschews the bright strip lighting and luminous food-colouring favoured by some of the other joints in the area, and instead goes for a sleek and exclusive feel and top notch food.

The restaurant serves up all kinds of Chinese dishes, but for us it was all about the dim sum, those little parcels of loveliness. We ordered them by the plateful. We had steamed scallop and black cod dumplings, all plump and tasty in their delicate translucent pastry. We had paper-wrapped prawns, prawn and garlic spring rolls and honeyed pork puffs. We had fluffy steamed buns that looked like little clouds on plates. What's more, Plum Valley also has a great wine list, so supper was washed down with some Sauvignon in huge, bulbous glasses that made happy clinking sounds.

As L and I nattered away, it seemed very appropriate that 2011 is the year of the rabbit. Unfortunately the staff at Plum Valley didn't seem to appreciate our leisurely rabbiting, and used increasingly unsubtle tactics to encourage us to finish our meal and free up their table. Perhaps it's not that different to the other places on Gerrard Street after all.

Plum Valley, 20 Gerrard Street, London