Steam Sum Dim Sum

Tasty Chinese Dubai Festival City 3 Reviews

1

© ITP Images

View slideshow

• 
• Picture 1 of 2
• 

Having been munched by mosquitoes the night before (my knees looked like they had localised measles), it was with trepidation that I took a pew by Festival City’s fake lake, outside Steam Dim Sum. Now, normally, I would have demanded a seat indoors, but the only other diners we could spot on this Sunday night were also ensconced outside (all two of them) and there wasn't much atmosphere inside. A shame, as it was an attractive space, although the beautifully-varnished floor was no friend of gripless-flip-flops (lucky then that the restaurant has no alcohol licence).

As a long-time lover of dim sum, I was distinctly underwhelmed by the selection on offer – around 20-items strong and understandably, but slightly disappointingly, featuring no pork. Sadly, in my opinion, pig is one of the mainstays of a dim sum restaurant and any menu minus sickly-sweet bread-y Char Siu buns can only suffer for it.

Undeterred, we ordered the vegetarian glass rolls and duck dumplings. The latter managed the rare feat of tasting only of the slippery casing and came minus the promised plum sauce, the former was doused in chilli gloop so fiery any taste clinging for dear life to the damp carrot and cucumber was utterly drowned. The lobster in the lobster rolls and the scallop and prawn in the dumplings were rendered redundant by an over-enthusiastic use of lemongrass. In fact, it was only the Chinese takeaway standard prawn toast, with its fried-bread greasiness and decent amount of well-seasoned shellfish, as well as the chicken and mushroom wasabi dumplings – that tasted largely of the decent wasabi dolloped on top – that managed to pique our tastebuds.

Having been over-excited about the expected little steamed parcels of loveliness, we only ordered a bowl of Shanghai noodles with steak and black bean – you get to mix and match your carbs, protein and glutinous sauce from the menu – as an afterthought. Mistake. These were, in fact, some of the best I’ve tasted in Dubai – the noodles, clearly freshly made, had real bite, the sauce was a sticky, salty-saccharine triumph. The dessert, chocolate wontons that came with a good vanilla ice cream, were an interesting – if slightly oily – end to the meal. While the service had been friendly and polite throughout, all in all our meal verged on the disappointing. You win sum, you lose sum.

The bill (for two)
1x scallop & prawn dumpling Dhs25
1x chicken & mushroom Dhs 25
1x vegetarian glass roll Dhs 25
1x lobster roll Dhs25
1x prawn toast Dhs23
1x duck dumplings Dhs25
1x Pepsi Light Dhs8
1x Large San Pellegrino Dhs18
1x beef Shanghai noodles Dhs40
1x chocolate wonton Dhs23
Total (excluding service) Dhs237

• Previous reviews
  • 26 March,2008- reviewed by Jeremy Lawrence
  • 12 September,2007- reviewed by TimeOut Dubai Staff

Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.