Dragon does Dimsum

Dimsums are very popular these days, but they are believed to have originated in the southern China’s Guangdong region before eventually making their way to Hong Kong. Cantonese dim sum culture began in tearooms in the latter half of the 19th century in the port city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, when Silk Road travelers would take breaks in tea houses for a dim sum meal. Nowadays, dim sum can include dishes and traditions adopted from other parts of China. But by and large, the culinary form remains the same as ever. So, if you love Dimsums and you love them the Desi Chinese way, Golden Dragon knows the way to your heart with their amazing Dimsum festival!

Dubai’s oldest Chinese restaurant, Golden Dragon has been operating since 1976, and have now come up with a brand new dimsum promo that features both vegetarian and non-vegetarian fillings.

Dimsum is an easy way into any heart. These beautiful pockets of deliciousness may have their home in China but are loved around the world. Tender morsels of rice flour wrappers are filled with different kinds of fillings and either steamed or fried. They are then served up with various dipping sauces depending on the filling.

We head there for a weekday lunch and check out what’s on offer. While the restaurant doesn’t seem busy, an ongoing delivery promo has proved to be much more popular than they were expecting. The kitchen was operating at full speed and the online ordering process is useful at helping out the staff.

To start off the meal, we order the Salt and Pepper Crunchy Vegetables – actually crunchy batter fried vegetables tossed with spring onions, garlic and pepper .and the Thai Chilli Prawns – crunchy and golden with tantalizing Thai spices. Going along with this order was the Tom Yum cooler– a delicious medley of fresh ginger water spiced with galangal, lemongrass, kaffir leaves and lime!. Ah! so refreshing! All of these arrived fresh and were incredibly yummy.

We then ask for a tasting menu of the dimsum on offer so that we can check out most the options. We try out these:

Spinach & cottage cheese dumplings AED 28 – specialty fresh spinach dumplings stuffed with cottage cheese.

Thai basil vegetable dumplings AED 26 – exotic vegetables with an infusion of basil flavored dim-sums.

Edamame and truffle oil dumplings AED 28 – rich edamame with notes of truffle flavor.

Four flavors’ chicken dumplings AED 28 – minced chicken dumplings garnished with rich bell peppers and shitake mushrooms.

Pan fried seafood gyoza AED 30 – prawns and fish mixed with our chef’s secret recipe, pan-fried on one side.

Dragon chicken dumplings AED 28 – our specialty dumplings with chicken filling. 

The highlights were the edamame and truffle oil dumplings and the four flavours’ chicken dumplings. We loved the spicy sauces that were great accompaniments and made the dumplings sing.

Healthy, filling and pocket-friendly, these dimsum really hit the spot. Great service by the lovely hostess made things even better. This whole experience of going to their restaurant in Oud Metha is an exercise in reaching out to the soul of Old Dubai, to feel how things once were. We would recommend going there for this joy alone. The great food is just a fantastic bonus.

Golden Dragon is a part of the gastronomical history of Dubai, and here’s to dim-some more years of awesome food!

Good: A great selection of dishes that have Pan-Asian influences.

Bad: The kitchen may get overwhelmed by their popularity at times.

Trendy: The Dimsum festival has some great options at great prices.