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Fearless Critic restaurant review
Austin
Food
Feel
Price
7.7
6.5
$15
Dim sum
Counter service

Hours
Daily 11:00am–9:00pm

Features Kid-friendly, outdoor dining, veg-friendly, Wi-Fi
Bar BYO
Credit cards Visa, MC, AmEx

www.getsumdimsum.com

Seton Medical
4400 N. Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX
(512) 458-9000
Get Sum Dim Sum
Sure, it’s dim sum 101—but it ain’t half bad

As you might discern from the T-shirty name and the raspberry and lime-painted walls, Get Sum Dim Sum is intensely beginner-friendly. Ordering’s not as fun as off a cart, but it is simple: check off what you want on a two-sided list of pictures (the very friendly staff will help if you need it), and hand it to the person at the register. More serious veterans of dim sum might get frustrated at the number of pan-Asian dishes encroaching upon the daily specials board, like Massaman curry; or Szechuan items that don’t belong, like mapo tofu. But the actual dim sum is even harder to understand: it’s actually good. It’s perhaps too technically perfect now and then, like salt and pepper tofu the exact size and shape (and almost firmness) of dice, with an exquisite little crust on each—admirably precise, but hardly the salt and pepper tofu we want to die eating. Siu mai are fine, but the dense pork outweighs any garlic or scallion intrigue. Fried eggplant stuffed with shrimp are crispy, greasy, and subtle. A fried turnip cake with little bits of sausage is reliable enough. Skip the dry, sticky-sweet char siu and make dessert a sesame bean cake ball, which has a good nutty-sweet-crunchy balance. We wouldn’t advise replacing your usual weekend haunt or anything, but it’s a fine choice for any-hour dim sum.

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