Dorshi — Restaurant in England

A very...."Western" interpretation of Pan-asian foods. Firstly - with regards to everything other than the menu - brilliant. Dorshi were very accommodating when we didn't have a reservation and slotted us in for lunch, service was friendly and it was nice to see local ingredients being used. The service sizes are "tapas" sized so can get more expensive for the volume of food you get, but we felt reassured that with local foods you get for what you pay for and it feels good to be supporting local food producers.

However - regarding the menu and foods - I do feel that there is a lot of liberty taken here and the food is incredibly western in taste/has something of an identity crisis. When we saw "dumplings" on the door we had assumed Chinese style steamed dumplings which was the main reason we'd picked the place (xiao long bao, sui mai, etc). When advertising "dumplings" it would be nice to see written on the menu which are fried and which are steamed. When we asked, we were told the chicken dumplings were fried like Gyoza and so assumed all the other dumplings were fried so didn't ask for an alternative. When served we were expecting gyoza (pan fried) but were served deep fried gyoza, which while ok was again not what we were expecting. We've been told from a friend who runs a pan-asian kitchen that deep fried dumplings/deep fried everything is very popular with westerners (y'all clearly like your arteries). Also the "kimchi" chicken didn't actually have any kimchi - so it was chicken which had been marinated before being deep fried. Please know and respect the terminology being used before adding it to a menu. The turmeric sauce that came with the fried chicken was very nice, I'm aiming to see if I can recreate that, but probably more for tortilla chips than a korean fried chicken. The wakame salad didn't really have any noticeable wakame in it, or if there was it was dried rather than fresh. The presentation was nice though with the flowers. The beansprouts with pickled radish on was nice - note that the beansprouts absorb more flavour than the cabbage layer underneath so it would have been nice to see a better ratio of beansprouts to cabbage.

TDLR fine if you want nice service but if looking for authenticity/respect for the original foods probably...

This is mine and my partner's favourite restaurant.

It was recommended to us a few years ago by the owner of another one of our favourite restaurants in Birmingham, when he heard we'd be holidaying in Dorset.

It does not disappoint!

The restaurant itself is well decorated with cosy isolated booths upstairs, ideal for couples or small groups. The branding is unique and well thought out, using a nice green across menus, decals and merch as well as fun iconography that feels authentic to their South East Asian roots. This is often overlooked by a lot of independent restaurants.

The food is delicious across the board with complex flavours and textures. I couldn't name anything I tried that would rank below a 7/10. Our first visit we sampled everything we could with helpful recommendations from the staff. Crispy fried fennel with crab mayo being a personal highlight for us. So much so we (unsuccessfully) tried to make it ourselves at home. Originally when we came the menu felt like a South East Asian tapas with a diverse selection of small plates. However on our most recent visit the menu has been streamlined towards a more typical starter and main arrangement. The starters being a tasty array of steamed or fried dumplings and the mains being either a noodle or rice bowl, with the addition of some small side plates. I'd be lying to say that this wasn't a little disappointing but given the current cost of living crisis and increasing supply costs for independent businesses I can totally understand why they would switch to this approach.

It certainly won't deter me from returning and I can only hope that one day they bring back my beloved...

Came here with high expectations and was sadly disappointed.

Decor made for a wonderful ambience (5) and the customer service was exemplary (5) but the food was lacking (2*).

Dumplings - straight off the bat, we ordered 3 dumpling dishes. I thought if they have a dedicated section in the menu for dumplings they must be good, but unfortunately frozen gyoza from any Asian mart takes better. I recognise that this place does fusion, but the wrapper was rubbery and the pork filling was dense and not juicy. The shiitake mushroom filling was fragrant but the chilli was overpowering. Suggest making a chilli dipping sauce instead.

Jasmine ginger rice - rice was undercooked (not even a case of al dente) Tip - recommend using a rice cooker for fool proof cooking rice.

Drunken chicken - described as being cooked in shaoxing / Chinese wine but could not taste the wine at all

Udon noodle - Broth was fine, but noodles on the soft side. Udon should have a chewy texture. Tip - recommend rinsing udon under cold running water until cold in centre to keep udon from continuing to cook in broth.

Pork mince and three chilli rub with poached egg - egg was over poached so was not runny and not spreadable over pork mince. The mince had no bite to it. Tip - recommend buying pork shoulder and hand mincing it rather than using pre minced / machine minced pork. Also the chilli was overpowering.

Pork belly - this was the only dish we enjoyed and ordered twice as the other dishes were disappointing.

We left the restaurant still hungry (we didn’t bother ordering more dishes in case they were all the same quality) and had instant ramen at...