Dam Sum is a lively corner restaurant right in the heart of Châtelain (there’s also a new opening on Place Sainte-Catherine) serving Chinese food and a lot of Dim Sum options. Dim Sum can be any small bite varying from fried to steamed or cooked. It’s basically the Asian version of tapas and there is plenty of choice between fried Dim Sums, steamed buns or soup dumplings.
When you enter, the place shines in bright red and offers a lot of seating options. You can take a seat more towards the right side of the restaurant at diner-resembling tables or at a higher table just next to lovely ladies folding dumplings by hand. You can also choose to sit more towards the middle of the room on cosy sofas and simple chairs. Additionally, there’s a private room that is opened for special occasions, or if the restaurant is buzzing with guests.
Dam Sum is most popular for dinner during the week, and for lunch time on weekends. Why? Because it’s a restaurant where you want to relax and take your time. You’re not just going to enter, sit down, eat your three dumplings and leave. No. You’ll start with the steamed BBQ pork buns, which are soft and moist and might stick to your mouth – but in the good way. You might then order fried shrimp rolls that you dip into a spicy mayonnaise sauce or maybe you’re going to try the steamed beef dumplings in vinegar sauce that are wrapped in a shiny thin dough. Once done with this, it’s a good idea to try some more dumplings and it’s entirely up to you how many.
One thing not to miss is their soup dumplings. It’s a dumpling filled with broth that you can slurp out, before enjoying the rest of the filling. For this, you place the dumpling on a spoon, poke a little hole into it with your chopsticks, slurp out the soup and then you eat the rest of the dumpling.
In case you’re curious about how the dumplings are prepared, you can observe the ladies right by the entrance rolling the dough, filling the to-be-dumplings with minced meat or vegetables and then twirling them into a perfect little bag that they place into an Asian steaming basket in groups of three. In case you want to have something different, Dam Sum also serves warm dishes like black pepper beef or pineapple chicken fried rice.
Among all this savoury indulgence you shouldn’t neglect their vanilla ice cream buns, made from fried, sweet, fluffy dough. If you’re a fan of cocktails that are more on the sweet side, then you’ll be happy about having a ‘Beijing Fresh’ or other options from their drink menu.
Price: 4-7€ for a portion of Dim Sum, around 11€ for main dishes and on Sundays there’s a special menu which includes 5 Dim Sum baskets for 2 persons for 22€
Address: Parvis de la Trinité 11, 1050 Ixelles AND Quai Au Bois a Bruler 51 – 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium (New!)