This August Bank Holiday Monday found us in the Tunbridge Wells branch of Dim T, which is located at the top end of Tunbridge Wells (the non touristy bit) and is yet another bank conversion. The place is nicely decorated and if one secures a table by the large picture window, as we did, one can pass the time watching the town’s people go about their business.

We were warmly greeted and able to choose our own table, a four-seater for just two of us, which is always nice. Whilst making our menu selection, I chose a fresh mint lemonade and my wife, a glass of white house wine, with some prawn crackers. The lemonade was unusual and refreshing, but the wine was nothing to write home about. The prawn crackers were dark, spicy and good, not the usual white fluffy things.

To start, I chose a steamed Dim Sum basket of chicken with wasabi and my wife, some vegetable spring rolls, with dipping sauce. The three Dim Sum tasted OK and came with quite a large splodge of wasabi on the top of each one, which surprisingly, I could not taste. The lack of taste theme was going to prove consistent. The three small spring rolls were fine, but, I suspect, out of the frozen food cabinet and of the less expensive type, another theme, I’m afraid.

For our main courses, we chose the Shanghai lemon chicken in honey breadcrumbs and the special of the day, which was beef, fried with black bean sauce and peppers. Each came with a timbale of rice. The beef was a reasonable dish, but the black bean sauce did not provide the expected kick, and the chicken fillets again lacked taste, perhaps because the chicken was rather thin, perhaps because it had no taste.
For dessert, I chose the white chocolate cheesecake, which came with a fruity sauce and my wife, a filter coffee, both were fine.

Throughout our visit the staff could not have been more helpful and pleasant and a minor confusion over oriental tea types immediately resulted in the offer of a Jasmine Flower tea on the house.

All of the above, plus a Coke, came to £39 plus tip. Not a huge bill for two, but quite a lot compared to local competition. None of the food was bad, or disgusting, as one other review stated, but it’s not that tasty either, rather ironic considering that the owner is “Tasty plc”.

Dim T’s could be good; the location is good, the place well run, food well presented, and the staff pleasant and hardworking. If the Dim T chain could just improve the quality of their ingredients, it would be much better and for this reason it misses the “approved” rating. Top Cat.