Stylish Dim Sum at SENSE

This restaurant with magnificent views perched on the 37th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel is not the usual hustle and bustle dim sum joint. Here dim sum is feasted upon in style. I loved the cool, modern design of Sense. every single detail of their cosy dining room was exquisite.

On Sundays, Sense has a dim sum set menu and it is very wise to book ahead as they are always full. I booked a day before and only managed to snag some counter seats which weren’t all that bad. We had a fabulous view of the Tokyo Sky tree.

The set menu Sense prepares for Sunday brunch is quite extensive and includes an all you can dim sum section so allow at least 2,5 hours to finish the whole course.

The starter is a chinese style fresh vegetable salad.

Followed by seven kinds of Japanese dumplings.

And the healthy soup of the day.

After which you can pick whatever dim sum you want from their main menu. Knock yourself out.

A small bowl of rice or porridge is the last course before dessert.

There are a couple of choices for dessert. I decided on the fried rice ball covered with sesame seeds and my husband went for the mango pudding.

The whole set will cost you about 5.500 yen which is not cheap and if you are expecting an authentic Hong Kong dim sum experience you might be disappointed. However, I did find the food to be quite delicious. It may not be authentic but it was very good, throw in the cosy restaurant and the lovely view, I say it’s definitely worth it.

Price : $$$

SENSE.
2-1-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-8328, Japan
+81 (3) 3270 8800

DIM JOY

I ended up having lunch at this small dim sum (or yam-cha as the Japanese call it) restaurant on the 11th floor of Mitsukoshi Ginza during a quest to find a good, reasonable restaurant worth bringing guests to in the Ginza area. They had two choices of lunch menus : The Brown Rice Porridge Set that cost 2300 yen and the modern dim sum set for 3200 yen.

I decided to try the brown rice porridge set while my friends tried the other. Here is what my lunch set looked like :

Salad appetizer
Three choices of steamed dim sum
Fried dim sum
Chinese medicine soup
Brown rice porridge

For the modern dim sum set, there were these two extra dishes : (the noodles were delicious)

Stir fried soft shell shrimp with sweet chili sauce
Szechuan sesame spicy noodles

I imagined the soup and porridge to be the perfect comfort food when feeling under the weather, but I have to admit that it is not the most spectacular dim sum I have ever tasted. Yet, it is still a nice choice if you happen to be in the Ginza area and are craving for a little yam-cha.

DIM JOY. Mitsukoshi Ginza 11th floor. Tel : 03-35617091

Price : $

CHAO JANG Dim sum

This little chinese restaurant just opened a few months ago in Meguro. I’ve passed by many times making mental notes that I should drop by whenever my craving for Asian food arises. This afternoon it did, so we decided to drop by this little joint. I was pleasantly surprised. Their dim sum menu was quite extensive with many different choices and they had an english menu.

We tried ordering some of their non-dim sum dishes which were not that bad but I’d stick to the dim sum. Their noodles were excellent. I tried their tan-tan ramen and it was really fresh and delicious.

The prices were very reasonable and their chili paste deliciously spicy. Unfortunately I forgot to jot down their address and phone number but will post it shortly.

I will definitely come back to visit.

Price : $

Dim sum at China Moon, Shinjuku

Good chinese food is something you wont’t easily find in Tokyo. Good dim sum is even harder to come by. I have tried many all the way to Yokohama Chinatown, but this little chinese restaurant tucked away on the 3rd floor of the keith ton building in East Shinjuku has some of the best dim sum I have tried in Japan. Their selections are plenty and the dim sums are tasty. Make sure you try their dumplings which are absolutely delicious. And having an Asian tongue with a love for all things spicy, it helps that they have a lovely chili paste which they call ‘mustard’ to go with the dim sum.

CHINA MOON

Keith Ton 3F, 3-28-7, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0022

Phone : 03-3226-8957

Price : $$