Furama – Dim Sum on the Northside

Just across from Thai Pastry on Broadway in a part of town that's known for Vietnamese and Thai is a nice Chinese spot to get Dim Sum. Lots of the enormity and pomp you expect from Chinatown is right there. From the huge dining room to the linoleum and throwaway plastic tablecloths to the validated parking, it's an experience that I'd expect from Chinatown. Granted the decor, if you even call it that, would be subsistence-non-porous... cheap-o but the food was pretty good and in a pinch it's Dim Sum without the drive and it's legit.

Again, it's not glamorous by any stretch if I remember Phoenix or Won Kow correctly they're somewhat nicer. As far as the cart varieties and dish options, it's no joke. I tried to find out if they serve xiaolongbao, soup dumplings, but they don't. They brought out something that was phonetically similar but without the soup part. I guess a rice dumpling filled with pork is what dim sum really is.

It's all about the rice noodles. Dim sum complaints that I've heard have been that it's slimy, greasy, a big mystery, etc. The menu at Furama is broad and in English with pictures. While it doesn't always solve the problem it is a bit of reassurance. That said, I didn't find any of the food greasy. Even the curried squid was tasty and rather light. Considering the volume and variety and the fact that it was eaten a scant 30 minutes after tennis it didn't stick around for the afternoon. The food was better than the decor suggested.

The beef fun roll was rolled ground beef in a floppy rice noodle that looked like overcooked manicotti but that's what it is and get used to it because it's good. The assorted pork dumplings were good. The sweet BBQ pork bao were good too but not great. Shrimp dumplings were good and very safe. I liked the curried squid but didn't finish it. The only other unfinished item was the sticky rice with assorted ingredients. They do give you a ton of that though.

If you're crazed for soup dumplings, (people tend to be – at least some people) order the bean paste spareribs and dip the phonetic dumpling into the broth. That's close. I believe this phonetic dumpling is pronounced sew-lawn-bao instead of sh-ow-lawn-bao , maybe Siulunbao. Don't know. I think it translates to Shanghai buns. But isn't that the new Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker collabomination.

Next time it's gotta be the congee. I'll pop that menu up so you can see the options!

Furama
4936 N. Broadway
773-271-1161

Comments

[Victor]

You're not going to find good Shanghainese dumplings in a dim sum place in Chinatown (maybe in Hong Kong). Dim sum as we know it in Chicago is Cantonese-style. You are better off going to a Shanghainese place. I heard that new place Lao Shanghai does them well, but I have not tried. I have tried the xiao long baos at Ed's Potsticker House and they are good.

Seeing as you just returned from Shanghai, I am sure you have found it tough to adjust back to Chicago chinese food. There is quite a divide between the food there and the food available in USA. I guess nothing can taste as good as if it were eaten in its original place.

Except in Vancouver. I think I've eaten Chinese food in Vancouver that is better than in China.

mandarin = xiao long bao
cantonese = siew long bao