Weekend Dim Sum and Shared Plates in Salt Lake City

A dim sum cart rolling up to the table changes the pace of brunch in a pleasant way. Instead of studying a list and committing to a full order, you can look over a procession of small dishes, ask a question or two, and choose what sounds good in the moment. At this longtime Chinese restaurant on State Street, that cart-service ritual gives weekend meals a lively, communal rhythm.

The dining room has a distinctly traditional Chinese visual character, with décor that gives the space an established, homey feel rather than a stripped-down contemporary look. On weekend mornings and early afternoons, the room is especially active with families, couples and groups settling in for dim sum.

This is a restaurant built for sharing. You can make a meal entirely from small plates, add a few sides to the table, or use dim sum as the opening round before moving into noodles, rice, vegetables, seafood and larger Cantonese-style entrées.

Weekend cart attendants bring around a broad selection of dim sum and are prepared to explain the choices, answer questions and point diners toward dishes they may enjoy. That is useful when the cart holds something unfamiliar, but it also makes the meal easy for a mixed table where some people arrive with firm favorites and others are ready to browse.

Shumai and potstickers are among the familiar starting points. The potstickers have a notably substantial, meat-forward filling, making them more than a token side plate. They are the sort of item that disappears quickly once the shared dishes begin to circle around the lazy Susan—or simply around eager hands.

Dim sum is available beyond the cart-service brunch period, so the restaurant is not limited to a Saturday or Sunday outing. The cart format, however, is closely associated with weekend brunch, when seeing the options in person becomes a large part of the meal.

Fried tofu arrives with its sauce on the side, a small but welcome detail for diners who prefer to dip rather than have every piece coated before it reaches the table. It also gives the tofu a little more flexibility alongside other strongly flavored dishes.

Snow pea leaves provide a green counterpoint to dumplings, fried items and noodle plates. A vegetable dish such as this can keep a sprawling table from becoming too heavy, particularly when the meal has expanded from a few dim sum selections into a proper family-style lunch.

Side dishes deserve some attention here. They can turn a modest dim sum order into a more complete meal, and they offer another route for a table with different appetites. One person can stay focused on dumplings while someone else adds vegetables, rice or a heartier plate.

The larger menu is broad enough to support dinner as easily as a brunch stop. Cantonese-style dishes run across seafood, meat, vegetables, noodles and rice, leaving plenty of room to build a table around a few dependable choices and one or two less familiar orders.

Beef chow fun and beef with string beans are solid examples of the menu's more substantial side. The former brings noodles into the mix; the latter gives a group an easy meat-and-vegetable combination. Dishes can arrive as they are ready, so a meal has a natural, unfolding pace rather than waiting for every plate to be finished at once.

Fried rice is served in generous portions, including a salted-fish version for diners who enjoy its deeper, savory character. A big plate of rice is also a practical anchor for the table, especially when the order includes several small plates and sauces.

For a more adventurous spread, the menu has room for salt-baked squid, deep-fried intestines, and intestines with preserved cabbage. Sweet-and-sour pork offers a more familiar counterbalance. That range is helpful when one group includes cautious eaters, devoted dim sum regulars and somebody determined to order the dish no one else has tried.

Family brunches and dinner-length shared meals fit comfortably into the restaurant's format. A group of five adults and two children has been accommodated with ease, and the combination of substantial portions and individually chosen dishes makes it simple to order in stages.

There is no need to treat the meal as an all-or-nothing dim sum event. A couple can choose a handful of small plates, while a larger gathering can add fried rice, noodles, greens and entrée dishes until the table looks appropriately busy. The menu gives a group several ways to settle into its own version of the meal.

The restaurant also handles takeout and delivery, though dining in is where the cart service and the steady arrival of shared plates have their fullest effect.

The restaurant is on State Street in the Salt Lake City area, with free lot parking and free street parking mentioned nearby. Parking can be tighter during the popular weekend dim sum period, when the dining room is at its busiest.

Weekend cart service has been associated with Saturday and Sunday brunch, while dim sum may also be available at other times. Current cart hours and daily dim sum availability are worth confirming before making plans.