Asia Republic restaurant

While Dubai’s Chinese food scene has improved over the last few years, it’s still far behind other cities in terms of dim sum quality and authenticity — but thankfully, the new Asian restaurant at Atlantis is taking us a lot closer to that ideal. I sat down for a meal at the casual restaurant located in the bustling Avenues part of the hotel on Monday, and found the food on par with what I’ve chowed down on my visits to Asia. I, however, may be an avid eater, but not necessarily an expert. The four chefs probably are though. All from Hong Kong, they are visible behind rows of hanging golden-skinned ducks and steamer baskets in front of the open kitchen, where each day, I am told, they hand-make all of the dim sum, from beef potstickers to chicken-seafood sui mai and fluffy barbecue chicken bao buns. I can believe they are hand-made: dim sum this size could never come ready-made. The beef gyoza potstickers are fist-sized; the crispy duck wonton is the size of a coin purse, and both are examples of bigger is better — they are packed with flavour. The sui mai are juicy and so flavourful I probably wouldn’t eat one anywhere else in the city again. Mark Patten, the vice president of culinary at the hotel, lived in Hong Kong for five years, and told me the large size is typical of dim sum in that city. Bigger here does not mean pricier though — the value at this licenced joint puts other Asian eateries to shame. The aforementioned dim sum are Dh35 per portion for three pieces, with the exception of the char siew bao, which are Dh30. Also not to miss are the soups, which take you out of China and into Vietnam (a spot-on pho, or spiced beef broth with brisket, Dh30) and Singapore (a light laksa, Dh35). The taste is in the details — the pho uses wide rice noodles; the laksa has fried tofu. Patten imports fresh wide noodles for the Malaysian beef char koay teow, and he’s evangelical about the sweet and sour chicken (Dh55), which he says can be one of the greatest dishes. My main course must-have is the Korean beef, thick grilled slices of beef, marinated in a sweet soy and served with kimchee (Dh60). The risk here is that in trying to cover all of Asia, the dishes are diluted; it didn’t happen — each dish is vibrant and tasty. If any further proof was needed that this busy little spot is authentic and tasty, all I had to do was look at the other four tables, all of which were packed with Chinese families eating and drinking tea. Where: Asia Republic, The Avenues, Atlantis The Palm, Dubai Call 04-4262626 Walk-ins only, open Saturday-Wednesday, noon-10pm; Thursday and Friday noon-11pm.