It was supposed to be a date night, but as I stood in my pretty dress, staring sadly at the menu outside Meimei’s Dim Sum House, where it was takeout only due to COVID-19 restrictions, we weren’t sure what to do.
A customer came breezing out, holding a big bag, and as we smiled at each other in passing, I called out, “How’s the food?”
“It’s really good,” she gushed. “I love the sweet and sour chicken. And my daughter loves the pork dumplings.”
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Her enthusiasm sold me. Inside, the restaurant was bright and spacious, with plenty of tables just waiting for customers. The cashier was hopeful that they’d be open for dine-in later in the summer. “We’ve been open for a year, and the tables haven’t been used,” she said.
Once they opened, she said, they’d even push around the classic dim sum carts, those stainless-steel carts stacked with round bamboo baskets, where diners could point to and be served tasty little Chinese appetizers of their choice. Dim sum, for those who don’t know, is an array of little snacks or small plates, often dumplings or other savory tidbits, but also sweet dumplings or tarts, served with tea and eaten for breakfast or lunch.
We wouldn’t have the carts this time, but we would have the fun of ordering some dim sum and other food, then dining in my husband’s car in lieu of any tables. My favorite dim sum are siu mai, open-face dumplings filled with minced pork, and shrimp dumplings, with the seafood stuffed in a white translucent skin, often crimpled to resemble a seashell. So we ordered both, along with a couple of Meimei’s Asian entrees: the ginger scallion shrimp (I asked them to add fresh broccoli) and cha siu pork.
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The menu itself offers familiar (Americanized) options plus a pretty generous assortment of traditional Asian dishes. You could order appetizers such as crab rangoons or wings; soup such as won ton or egg drop and entrees such as General Tso’s chicken or lo mein. Then there’s spicy mapo tofu with minced pork; a whole fish steamed with scallions, ginger and soy sauce; and my mom’s favorite chow fun, wide egg noodles tossed with vegetables and your meat of choice.
Even with customers coming in and out, it didn’t take long for our meal, and we bundled the bags to the car, where we arranged the to-go trays as best we could. Both the dim sum were plump, larger than what I’ve seen at dim sum houses in Atlanta. I thought the siu mai was a bit heavy on the water chestnuts for my taste, but the shrimp were fantastic, full of delicate flavor brought out by a light touch of sesame oil and ginger.
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The char siu pork was moist and tender. It’s not the bright red pork you may have seen, but is browner and perhaps milder. It’s served with the traditional thick sweet hoisin-based dipping sauce, but there’s also a cup of a tangy soy-based sauce that I preferred—in fact, I poured it all over my rice and could have eaten just that alone.
But that was until I tried my shrimp. I was a little surprised that the shrimp are thickly breaded, but that breading soaks up all of its amazing sauce, a perfect balance of the flavors of ginger, soy, scallions and the light seafood. The shrimp were also tossed with plenty of onions, green peppers and my special-request broccoli, making it a complete meal.
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In fact, we had enough to save for lunch for both of us the next day. Date night, part two.
Meimei’s Dim Sum House
251 Meridian Dr.
Grovetown, near the Gateway exit at I-20
Dinner entrée cost: $9.95 to $19.95
Danielle Wong Moores is a local freelance writer who’ll never turn down a shrimp cocktail, sushi or cheese dip. Her greatest food influences are her mom and writers MFK Fisher and Amanda Hesser. Her Dine and Dish column will run the second and fourth Friday of each month.
