Location: Near Regal at Colaba.
Once one of the most talked about Chinese restaurants in Bombay, Ling's seems to have made an effort to downscale its prices. The result is a fuller and livelier restaurant, but at a cost. It is now a decent enough Chinese eatery, but closer to the usual run of Chinese restaurants in India, and not the taste treat it once was. The interior has not been redesigned, so the large family groups that seem to be the main customers always come with a couple of children running over and around the faux-chinese bridge near the entrance.
We had a large spread, including some things off the menu. The grill platter and the wan-tons were fine, but lacked any touch that would raise it above the ordinary. We ordered a plate of prawns, and again found it okay, if a tad heavy on the stomach, but without that extra something to make it memorable. The nearest they came to their once special kitchen was in the stir fried pomfret fillets with spring onions. This very fresh and light concoction was the best of their starters; but is not on the menu. This taught us one of the major lessons about Ling's: ask the waiters for advise.
The main courses were again okay, but not the specials that their kitchen once produced. The noodles were of the Indian-chinese variety, and induced much conversation about the student days of everyone at the table (the only teenager at the table did not participate in this bit of the conversation). We tried a couple of side dishes with pork, beef and duck in various styles. Competent, a bit heavy, but generally all right. Among the usual chinese desserts was a minor gem of a filled pancake.