Enlarge Dim Sum "sticky rice", ready to serve.

Posted: October 2nd, 2009 Ayofemi Kirby

The Crossroads Correspondents will be previewing restaurants for the Oct. 8 Taste of the World. For more info and to make a reservation, click here

Dim Sum
2920 Central Ave.

Yee Kam, Owner

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Walking through the doors of Dim Sum Chinese Restaurant on Central Avenue, feelings of warmth immediately change the mood.

Golden poppy toned walls decorated with Asian inspired paintings absorb soft overhead lighting. There is no need for windows as streams of scarlet radiating from empty seats energize the intimate space.

Dim Sum, translated from Chinese into English, literally means “touch of the heart,” and if one imagines how a journey into the inside of life’s center would feel, the dining room at Yee Kam’s restaurant would be a suitable taste.

“It is like a food from the heart,” said Yee Kam, owner of Dim Sum.” I love Dim Sum, there was nothing like it here, so I wanted to start it.”

“During the Chinese dynasty days, the King and Queen would ask for a little something,” she said. “They didn’t eat much sweets, so they would get small bites of food.”

Dim Sum is like an American brunch where instead of large meals, small servings are offered during the day, Kam said.

The Dim Sum menu is complete with bijou offerings of traditional Chinese meals such as shrimp rice noodle crepes, stuffed duck feet, or 8-treasure sweet “sticky” rice (seen in video).

And because Dim Sum is an ancient tradition, no recipes are written - the cooks at Kam’s restaurant had to learn how to make the meals as children.

“What we serve is not from any recipe,” she said. “We still use what we know from what our parents and grandparents taught us a long time ago.”
Kam is a native of Hong Kong, the city where the Dim Sum tradition began. She moved to North Carolina 35 years ago and has operated the restaurant for seven years.

When Kam opened Dim Sum in 2002, she would drive Shelby to Charlotte each day to serve her customers. She now lives in Charlotte and enjoys the warm atmosphere - one she hopes her customers feel when they visit her restaurant.

“I lived in Germany and other big cities, there no one has the time to say hi,” she said. “Here, I love the weather, its wonderful and the people, I love them too. They are more friendly, so much more laid back.”

Lunch prices at Dim Sum range from $2.65 to $5.45.

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