Yauatcha

Finally got to go to the highly anticipated Yauatcha

 Tons of hype for this Michelin star restaurant, and can't wait to experience it myself.  By the way, the place is pronounced Yu-Waht-cha

 Pretty matching menu, that matches the decor very nicely.  Classy and hip.

 My friend Julie got the Grape Cha, and that looked pretty, so figured, why not?!  It has grapes, lime, jasmine tea, and comes with a pretty flower to boot.  Of course, we ordered regular jasmine tea as well.

 Venison Puff, it really tasted like cha shu inside, not too gamey.  The puff itself is worthy for a try.

 Bak Choy stir fry with garlic, needed some veggie to balance things out.

 XO Scallop Dumpling.  That is caviar on top of the scallop, but can't really tell where the XO sauce went.  Hmm....

 Xiao Long Bao - pork soup dumpling.  Pretty tasty, wouldn't mind having more of this one.

 Steamed pork ribs, it's not bad but to be honest, can't taste the black bean at all.

 This has got to be the cutest, it's duck pumpkin puff, which shapes like a mini pumpkin, just too adorable.  The taste is ok, I was just grateful the duck is not dry.

 Crispy Duck Roll, conversely, this was a tad dry for my taste.  

 Second cutest dish, prawn and zucchini dumpling.  Stamped like a carrot, too cute.

 Steamed pork bun, much like what you get in Chinatown.  Actually, smaller by size.

 Cha Siu (pork) Cheung Fun - Cheung Fun is a rice noodle, but damn good with soy sauce.

 This is unique.  This is prawn and crispy beancurd cheung fund, it very much reminded me of Zha Liang, which is a Cantonese dish, where they put fried dough inside the rice noodle and it lends to be crispy with the soft noodle over it.  Instead here, they use bean curd. 

 This is Morel Crystal Dumpling, which has filling of mushroom and vegetable.

 Of course have to save room for dessert.  From top: Tropical Dome has hint of passionfruit and pineapple (which I was very surprised how much I like it).  Middle: Red Fruits Mascarpone, which has strawberry & raspberry compote, a bit of pistachio and mascarpone, nice and yummy.  Then the Chocolate Pebble, which is bigger than a pebble.  It has a very dense brownie and a pretty shell over it.  Sadly, even a chocolate like me can't handle how rich it was.

 MUST show you the array of macarons they have here.... oooh pretty!

And the other dessert, which are work of art themselves.  Hopefully next time I'll get to try the rest.

Basically, this restaurant has so much hype that when they announced opening date, and we tried to make a reservation, it was 2 weeks out.  So, while this is still new, make a reservation.  We went on a weekday, and it was crowded at lunch.  

This is really a place made for either 3 or parties of 3, all the dishes came in 3s, so for our party of five, either we cut things up or double up the order.  For the items we weren't too sure of, we cut and for the popular or common ones, we doubled up.  

So, there are two ways people are looking at this.  That is: this is a Michelin Star restaurant, the entire  North America continent, there's only one.  The other US one is located in Hawaii, what a great chance to experience this.  The other is that, well, it's dim sum, you're paying $7, $9, or $16 for dishes you get for $2 - 3 per dish in Chinatown.  Are they truly that great?  Well, the truth is, some dishes they are better and done very well.  The rest you're paying for the decor and the five star service that you don't get a Chinatown dim sum.  I think you should experience it because it is a rare place.  Is it going to replace my dim sum place?  Probably not.

Yauatcha

5045 Wesheimer Rd

Houston, TX 77056

713-357-7588

http://www.yauatcha.com/houston/