Weekend Dim Sum Brunch at No Name Chinese
It was literally, a “Dim Sunday”, when we drove through the steady rain to No Name Chinese in South Miami. The modern Chinese restaurant helmed by Chef Pablo Zitzmann was a bright and welcome oasis with brick walls, open kitchen and counter and just the right amount of Asian touches. There is even a framed map of Hong Kong on the wall.
Brunch is now offered on both Saturday and Sunday and features either a tasting menu of 5-6 courses selected by the chef, or popular items a la carte. We opted for the tasting menu and it was a surprising and delicious combination of flavors, each well described by our server.
Since it was brunch, we started with a NNC Bloody Mary, spicy and made with roasted citrus, house made sambal and wine-based spirit.
Our first course was a nice Japanese/Chinese inspired sashimi, a Crudo Yusheng with fresh bluefin tuna on top of a pickled ginger and cabbage slaw with pineapple chunks and a citrus soy dressing. Very nice balance of flavors.
We added one of the over 20 different draft beers to enhance the flavor of the fresh tuna and slaw. Other beverage choices include wines, a nice selection of sakes, and very unique sake-based cocktails like Matcha Made In Heaven and Every Now & Zen.
The next dish was a Smashed Cucumber Salad marinated in soy and vinegar and topped with spicy sesame cream, fresh mint, sesame seeds, basil and cilantro. It was colorful and good, although I might have preferred somewhat smaller pieces or even slices of cucumber, so they would’ve soaked up the delicious marinade.
I must admit to eyeing the Turnip Cake Hash with hesitation, as I am not a fan of turnips, but the flavors were a wonderful mixture of sweet soy, kewpie mayo, Lap Cheong (crispy bacon-like sausage), and Shitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots all topped with bonito flakes.
No Dim Sum is complete without dumplings and the Shrimp Dumplings at No Name are chock full of pink shrimp and are enhanced by a ginger and scallion vinaigrette and topped with picked cucumber slices and scallions .
This was followed by a very ample and flavorful portion of Chao Fan, fried rice, with shitake mushrooms, scallions, garlic, ginger and a sunny side up egg. There was enough for us to take home and enjoy the next day. Or in our case that very same evening.
For dessert we devoured the Hong Kong Style Waffles, which are also available as an a la Brunch menu item as a sweet option. The torched marshmallows, strawberry preserves and Iced Tea Gelato made specially for NNC by Frice was a nice and light ending to the a “Dim “ and rainy weekend.