RedFarm — Restaurant in London

Red Farm Chines Restaurant

This place is a hidden gem, “well it was hidden from me at least” waiting for me to discover, but I’m sure everyone else knew about it ,oh my goodness what an amazing place, its the kind of place you just fall in love with as soon as you walk in. It’s hiding in plain site in the heart and I mean the heart of Covent Garden. As you walk in the interior is simple yet beautiful clean and well laid out. The greeting as you walk in from the staff is amazing, polite and welcoming, they move around the restaurant like a well oiled machine, weaving in and around the customers without any fuss. After a short while the place slowly filled out with a lovely mix of people, tourist and locals alike sat and enjoyed this lovely Chinese restaurant. The food arrived very quickly once ordered.

For my starters I had the Pac-man Shrimp Dumpling’s, simply because of the nostalgic memories of playing one of my favourite computer games. They did not disappoint, they looked like Pac-man, I wonder if Pac-man really taste like that?. They were absolutely delicious each and everyone of them. I felt guilty eating them but they used to eat me back in the day, finally got my own back on them. As you can see in the photographs they look amazing.

I then had the Black Truffle & Chicken soup dumplings, now this was just a great experience, I had to be shown how to eat it, you first drink the soup through a straw then you pour the sauce over the dumpling then try and eat it in one go, my goodness what a lovely experience, I can’t actually describe it apart from saying again “wow” delicious and you have to try it 100%. You will definitely impress your guest with this order.

I then had the Sautéed lobster & Thai Style rice, oh my goodness everything and I mean everything tasted amazing I can’t lie, every mouthful was delicious, the lobster was fresh and juicy and well cooked. As I ate the food I just kept thinking what a lovely place and what lovely people and what lovely food “Yum”. This is the kind of place that when the bill comes you don’t ever complain because every plate is a work of art.

Now lets talk about the drinks, oh boy, you can end up trying everything if you are not careful, I tried the Salted Caramel Expresso Martini. The Barista Tiago Pereira, was trained at the Galvin at windows, in the world famous “Hilton Park Lane” I then tried the American Gangster, yes this is the drink you order to show off to your date, look at the video it looks and taste amazing, its brought to your table surrounded by smoke, it give you the impression of the gun-smoke in the aftermath of shootout, the drink itself is simply so delicious.

Underground: Covent Garden

I then finished off my meal with the “Custard Laura Bao”, which is a house speciality only available in Red Farm Tiago Pereira is the amazing mixologist, who takes a lot of pride in his infusions all infused in-house, take a look at the photographs, the...

Award winning New York haunt, Redfarm, has opened its playful contemporary Chinese restaurant in Covent Garden to Londonders! With dim-sum extraordinaire Chef Joe Ng and Chinese culinary expert and Ed Schoenfeld at the helm, it is bound to be a winner.

Contemporary Chinese restaurant in Covent Garden In the heart of Covent Garden Piazza, Redfarm has an airy and contemporary feel with gingham booths and whitewashed exposed brickwork.

Toots ‘n’ Hoots cocktail bar named after its resident decorative owls sits at the top of Redfarm. It is a hidden and intimate drinking den with the lovely Frank at the helm serving up great cocktails.

The menu gives you guidance on what cocktails to choose: strong, smooth or easy. We had a chat with Frank and ended up going with his recommendations. The Spotted Wood: Cognanc, Angostura Bitters, Cardamom, Pineapple, Lemon and the Seldom in the Daylight: Gin, Bergamot, Lemongrass, Cucumber, Lemon, Agave (£13). The latter was so citrusy and zesty – a really excellent cocktail.

From the starters section we tucked into the Spicy Crispy Beef (£9) and the ‘Dingley Dell’ Pork Belly (£10). The beef was light and crispy without being too spicy and the pork belly was cut into thin strips and was flavoursome without being too fatty.

We basically wanted to order the entire Dim Sum Kitchen section! A slightly unsuual dish caught our eye – the Lamb Dumplings in Thai Curry (£11). The curry sauce was punchy but not too hot and the dumplings were packed with filling and flavour.

We had to try the staple playful dish of Pac Man Shrimp Dumplings (£12). So let’s start with the head which is crispy sweet potato on a bed of guacamole. Pacman then chased Blinky (red lobster and ginger), Clyde (yellow curry), Inky (crab and coriander) and Pinky (white bamboo shoots). Obviously the dish looks great and thankfully it was not style over substance.

Lastly, we loved the Pork and Crab Soup Dumplings (xiaolongbao) (£8). Served with straws is such a great idea as we have definitely made a mess with hot soup broth previously…! The flavours were rich and delicious and it was one of the best dishes.

We loved the starters and dim sum selection so we did not choose any main dishes. One word of warning though is these generally come with a large price tag (£20-35) so order carefully.

We also wanted to save room for the epic custard bao (£8 for 2). They were packed with custard filling served hot and were the perfect end to a meal.

Redfarm is a great new contemporary Chinese restaurant in Covent Garden offering a whole host of inventive dishes. The atmosphere is relaxed, staff were generally friendly (especially Frank!) and the food was great. Depending what you order, the dishes can add up so make...

I initially visited Red Farm in New York (the one in Greenwich location) a few years ago. The food was fantastic there and was a perfect meal to end our holiday. So when I heard that they opened a restaurant in London, it was always on my list of places to try out. Fortunately, they've been able to capture the great atmosphere and the varied dishes of the New York branch. One thing I remember about leaving the New York restaurant was how stuffed I was - but me and my wife kept wanting to try more dishes as each one we tried was 10/10.

I would definitely say the same about this restaurant - but I would also do things a bit differently when I go next time. We ordered 5 sharing dishes, 1 main and 1 side of vegetables in total between two of us, which is more than enough. The Spicy Crispy Beef, Shrimp Stuffed Shishito Peppers, and the Black Truffle & Chicken Soup dumplings (a special) were definitely the standout dishes and would get again. The Cheeseburger Spring roll, although again really tasty, was quite heavy and I might go for something a little lighter next time (like another dumpling dish). The Pac Man Shrimp dumplings I would also recommend, but it may be difficult to share as each of the four dumplings you get are different. The Sauteed Snow Pea Leaves with Garlic were a perfect side to accompany the dishes and was very flavourful. And the Wild Rice Noodles and Roast Duck was also spot on (although we were absolutely stuffed by the time this arrived so had to leave some behind).

We treated ourselves to a few cocktails each and they didn't disappoint either. All in all, the bill came to around £170. We then headed upstairs afterwards to the Toots and Hoots bar for a few more cocktails. As the bar had only recently opened, it was fairly quiet, which is exactly what we wanted. Trying to find a quiet bar in Covent Garden is near enough impossible on a Saturday night, so I expect this to change once more people hear about it. It can seat around 20 people in total.

So, all in all, a quite pricey Saturday evening, but well worth it for a treat. It's not a fancy, special occasion type of restaurant, and I don't think that's what they are going for either. It's for people who don't mind sharing a table and having a great conversation with the waiters and the bar staff while you eat some fantastic food. Would definitely recommend trying out if you've been sitting on the fence - the London or the New...