It's Steamy in the City and the Dim Sum's Cool: Richard Vines

May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Dim sum is turning into the all-day breakfast of Chinese cuisine, a meal taken out of its cultural context and repackaged for popular consumption at any time.

Wish I'd thought of it. In London, we enjoy our dim sum around the clock, just as we love our cappuccinos, and who cares if these were originally supposed to be pleasures of the morning? That sort of thinking might have you waiting until midday for your first glass of champagne. What a slippery slope that would be.

D.Sum2, an eatery near St. Paul's, brings contemporary Chinese cuisine to the City, a part of London not known for its wealth of eateries. The challenge for restaurateurs is clear: City workers tend not to drink a lot at lunchtime -- well, except for Fridays and the occasional Thursday -- and they don't hang around for dinner. Making an eatery pay is a challenge. D.Sum2 is doing a good job, particularly drawing female diners.

This new venue already has attracted a lunchtime crowd, drawn by decent dim sum and other Chinese dishes that are acceptable, if unexceptional. The summery weather that arrived in London this week also may boost the appeal of cocktails such as Passionate Concubine, whose embrace I've enjoyed more than once. The house champagne (Christian de Montaille) is very drinkable at 28 pounds ($55) a bottle, less than you pay for a glass at Sake No Hana.

Chinese cuisine in London, and much of the world, may be divided into pre-Hakkasan and post-Hakkasan, such has been the influence of that venue opened by restaurateur Alan Yau, who also owns Sake No Hana and Yauatcha. D.Sum2 is firmly post-Hakkasan, with modern designs and dishes that are light on the oil.

Dim-Sum Judges

I took along my usual dim-sum tasting panel of a Chinese friend and her daughters, aged 11 and 13. (One reason they are great guests is that they always want sweet-and-sour pork, which I reckon most Westerners want and are shy to order.) They are Yauatcha veterans and I warned them that D.Sum2 isn't at the same level, only to find that all three liked the place.

They reckoned the dim sum was better than in Soho, which they always call Chinatown, and enjoyed the big juicy prawns in the har gau, the fluffy char-siu bao pork dumplings and even chicken-and-coriander dumplings, which they said weren't Chinese but tasted good and were attractive. There are also chicken curry puffs and vegetable spring rolls.

There are four types of mixed dim-sum platters. The steamed dumpling option -- at 12.50 pounds for har gau, prawn-and-spinach, xiao long bao and chicken -- was enjoyable, the fried pleasures of the crispy platter less so. I haven't got around to the vegetarian, and in future I'll order a la carte, ticking off the boxes on the paper menu sheet that is supplied with a pencil.

The other dishes were fine, if unmemorable. Black cod turned out to be goujons in a light batter with a pepper sauce. The hot- and-sour soup was authentic and excellent. The prawn toast was surprisingly big and fishy while the aromatic duck spring rolls were generously filled, the meat not overdone.

Spicy Crab

I ordered soft-shell crab with red chili and curry leaf (7.50 pounds) twice over three visits: The spicing hit just the right balance of heat and depth. The Sichuan spicy beef, by contrast, wasn't spicy enough. D.Sum2 is a Cantonese restaurant and the Cantonese always dumb down Sichuan dishes, just as the Japanese transform curries into the culinary equivalent of Barry Manilow.

The desserts are a weak point, though that's hardly unusual for an Asian restaurant. There's a choice of bought-in ice creams, except when they're too frozen to be scooped out, as happened on one of my orders. Chocolate wonton is similar to the savory wonton, whose sauce is similar to the sweet and sour. Fried ice cream is no better than it sounds.

D.Sum2 is a funny place. It's so packed at lunchtimes, it's hard to get the attention of harassed servers, who seem to come from everywhere in Asia but China. Last Sunday, it was deserted, and it's not hopping at night. I live in the City and if I knew how to say D.Sum2, I might even recommend it to my neighbors.

D.Sum2, 14 Paternoster Row, London, EC4M 7EJ. Tel. +44-20- 7248-2288 or click on http://www.dsum2.com/main.html.

The Bloomberg Questions

Cost? Dim-sum platters are 12.50 pounds.

Sound level? Lively at lunchtime.

Date place? No.

Inside tip? Try the cocktails.

Special feature? Dim sum in the City.

Private room? No.

Will I be back? Yes.

Rating? **

What the Stars Mean
****         Incomparable food, service, ambience.
***          First-class of its kind.
**           Good, reliable.
*            Fair.
0 (no stars) Poor.

(Richard Vines is London food critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this review: Richard Vines, in London, at rvines@bloomberg.net.