Chef Chan, Dr. Foo Swasdee and Chef Bao Lou at Get Sum Dim Sum.
May 27, 2009 | Yvonne Lim Wilson
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You love dim sum, but you don’t love having to wait until weekend brunch to get it.
Now you can get dim sum all day, every day at Get Sum Dim Sum, a new restaurant located at 4400 N. Lamar (45th and Lamar).
Guests attending a recent special tasting before the restaurant opened on May 25 had nothing but rave reviews of the food.
“It’s great. Fresh. And it has a beautiful presentation and wonderful flavors, what more could you ask for,” said Larry Tu. “It’s Hong Kong quality.”
My own family – including two very picky boys – loved every dish we sampled. The shrimp in the delicate har gow dumpling was so fresh, you could truly appreciate the flavor in every bite. My sons couldn’t get enough of the siu mai (both chicken and pork) and savored the soft barbecue pork buns and baked coconut buns.
Get Sum Dim Sum currently offers more than 40 dim sum items including noodle rolls, fried taro and various dumplings, eggrolls, baked and steamed buns (savory and sweet). More exotic items, such as chicken feet, will be added to the menu later.
Get Sum Dim Sum features a clean, modern look, and bright fuschia and chartreuse walls. A wall sign explains the definition of dim sum and two flat screen televisions display video of how dim sum is made. An open kitchen reveals the chefs making each dim sum item. There are no push carts, instead, the dim sum is displayed in bamboo steamers at the counter.
It’s easy to order. When you walk in, you can order a combo meal that includes one dim sum from list, starch, meat and vegetable for under $7. Or, you can order any dim sum item a la carte, from just one piece to as many as you want. Plates of dim sum range from $1.75 to $3.95.
Dr. Foo Swasdee, owner of Satay Restaurant, and Chef Chan, the former owner of Chef Chan’s Teahouse in San Antonio, are partners in the business. Swasdee first met Chef Chan through the Austin Iron Chef competitions, which Chan won two years in a row.
Swasdee, who has a Ph.D. in food science, has more than 22 years of experience in the restaurant industry and a longstanding reputation for excellence.
“I’m known for making Asian food with quality ingredients, no msg and vegetarian options,” Swasdee said. This is a line of dim sum, all day long, daily, affordable. It’s quality food, good dining and fast service.”
Chan, originally from Hong Kong, is a star in the culinary world, specializing in dim sum. He was the chef at famous restaurant in San Francisco, Yank Sing, before opening his restaurant in San Antonio.
The goal is to make dim sum more accessible to people, Swasdee said. She sees a bright future for dim sum in the realm of “fast casual,” which chains like Chipotle and Zen are finding to be immensely popular.
“We want people who are afraid to try dim sum to come in and do dim sum tasting,” she said. “I want to make dim sum the next sushi.”
Watching the chefs work in the open kitchen, Kelly Davis-Burns noticed the care and attention to detail the chefs put into each dish.
“All the pleats were there … it was a masterpiece of dim sum,” Davis-Burns said. “Every little piece was a little dumpling of love.”
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