All that and dim sum
Anticipated West Austin dim sum restaurant spills details on opening date
She built a cult around her Shanghai soup dumplings during her stint at downtown’s Wu Chow. Now chef Ling Qi Wu is set to do the same for Clarksville with the opening of anticipated dim sum eatery Lin Asian Bar at 1203 W. Sixth St. on June 8.
Wu first began cooking in New York City, but honed her skills in Austin under well-known dim sum chef William Wong, as well as La Traviata and Ronald Cheng’s Chinatown. At Wu Chow, she was instrumental in making the restaurant's Sunday dim sum service one of the hottest tickets in town.
Now she is taking her skills to a new eatery located in the renovated bungalow that once housed Rounder’s Pizzeria. The Lin team has lightened the space significantly, getting rid of the Rat Pack murals and hanging colorful Chinese lanterns in the front porch.
The menu will look familiar to fans of Wu Chow, but the classic dim sum and Chinese fare has also been lightened up. According to the company’s website, Wu began experimenting with healthier cooking after the premature birth of her second daughter — a focus that has extended to the use of locally sourced organic vegetables in Lin’s cuisine.
Among the new offerings are cilantro shrimp dumplings, chicken potstickers, and shiitake chicken shumai. Also on the menu are Wu’s famous soup dumplings, here available in both traditional pork and in a new seafood version. Rounding out the menu will be turnip cakes, foil packet chicken, taro egg rolls, bao, and egg cream buns.
Dinner offers a variety of proteins, including grilled lamb chop with spicy miso sauce, crispy jalapeño shrimp, roast duck, salt and pepper lobster tail, and whole steamed fish. The mains are supplemented by a variety of seasonal vegetable dishes and starchy dishes like seafood noodles and combination fried rice.
The restaurant has applied to sell alcohol, although it has not publicized details about the bar program just yet. Lin will also have plenty of parking behind the building.
