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| - Nani Restaurant made a favorable impression during recent weekday lunch foray. As an unabashed multi-cultural dumplingphile, I was pleased to see the early favorable reviews. So I convinced a couple of co-workers to join me for a whirlwind trip through Nani's dim sum menu.
It's been years since I visited this location; I think it was an ill-fated Mongolian stir-fry place in that iteration. The new owners definitely classed the place up with a thorough renovation, adding plenty of stylish lighting to give the place a more chic vibe (as best you can for an old all you can eat buffet location).
The host immediately greeted us and led us to our table. Our server appeared before we were settled in and shared both the lunch menu (mainly Americanized Chinese dishes) and the expansive dim sum menu. After a vigorous debate over the merits of many of the dim sum options, we decided on the pork pot stickers, shrimp and pork dumplings, BBQ pork buns and one of spare rib options, (Alas, no one was willing to sample the chicken feet with me - I had to save that dish for another time). One of my co-workers also ordered the sesame chicken entrée from the lunch menu.
Shortly after we placed our order, the steam baskets with our dim sum offerings started hitting our table. The exterior of the pot stickers had an impressive brown sear and the filling brimmed with porcine goodness. For some unknown reason, the podstickers were bereft of any dipping sauce, which is an almost unpardonable omission. The BBQ Pork bun were the weak link of the meal, with a too sweet bun and just a thimbleful of under
seasoned pork (nothing like the version of this dish than I devoured at Umami earlier this year).
The bone-in pork spareribs were the showstopper of our meal. Packed in a flavorful broth, this dish provided a mouthful of flavor with every bite. Also impressive were the delectable shrimp and pork dumplings, though they also could have benefited from a dipping sauce.
I felt the kitchen did an admirable job with the sesame chicken, which provided a pleasing crunch with every bite.
For a new restaurant that has had little fanfare, there was an active midweek lunch service. Many restaurants have come and gone from this building, hopefully Nani can break the curse of this location. There are far many dim sum offerings that I have yet to try.
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