On a mission to find good dim sum in Paris we were not short of recommendations for Yoom, Paris' first dim sum specialists and quickly becoming known as the best dim sum in the city.
Yoom is not open on a Sunday (or Monday, worth checking before you leave the house) but Google saved the day and after queuing for 2 hours for the Helmut Newton exhibition we embarked on our journey to Port De Choisy to find what one reviews claimed to be the 'real best dim sum in Paris'. The whole situation mirrors Harold and Kumars trip to Whitecastle a little too much.
Our French pal called us to give his two pence worth on Chinese food in Paris.
"Port De Choisy for dim sum?"
he laughed a lot
gave us props for being authentic
laughed some more
then hung up.
(He also told us Yoom was hipster-dim-sum (one of those awkward converstaions with a hipster who don't consider themselves a hipster #awk ))
Whilst waiting for the restaurant to open I highly recommend getting a drink at Tabec des Sports. A kind of bar / betting shop / tobacconist hybrid.
Do try and resist the temptation to get a doublecheese burger at the McDonalds down the road, even if it looks exciting and Chinese, it will only ruin your appetite and piss people off.
Any restaurant situated within a
trio of tower blocks with one lonley and fear inducing fairground ride
in the centre is bound to be a full of character right ?
Not one to be put off by a raw location Liz does the dim sum dance
dim sum dance close up
La Chine Massena, Paris' largest Chinese restaurant complete with karaoke, light up dance floor and fish tanks full of crab and lobster ready to meet there purpose.
deep fried lobster croquettes, juicy, crispy and fresh.
Non specific dumplings. Maybe prawn. Maybe not.
King of dim sum - the char sui pork bun. I am a self titled connoisseur of the char sui pork bun, i've had pork buns everywhere from Oriental City in Colindale to the Michelin star pork buns at The mandarin oriental. This one was pretty good.
Prawn dumplings. Pretty sure these ones are prawn.
All in all, good dim sum paired with some shockingly bad, but surprisingly charming service. I wouldn't recommend leaving without paying for the crab and white asparagus soup, even if you did think there wasn't any crab in it, it's likely a small waiter will chase after you and make you return to the restaurant and pay for said crab soup. That would be embarrassing.
13, place de Venetie, 75013 Paris, France
