Where to Eat in Italy Ethnic Food

Song: the Chinese restaurant making waves in Rome with 26 different “dim sum” on the menu

by:
Leonardo Samarelli
|
copertina song 2

Since 2021, the Okasan group restaurant has been a bastion of Chinese cuisine in Rome with a focus on dim sum, Hong Kong's typical palate-warming ravioli.

The restaurant

In recent years the Capitoline gastronomic proposal has been consolidated, narrowing the gap with its Milanese competitor. In fact, there are many addresses in the city that go beyond the “usual tradition,” and if the internationally oriented insignias are now a certainty- such as, for example, the restaurants that celebrate Japanese culture-even Chinese cuisine is beginning to have its staples.

ristorante song 8 PS
 

One of these is Song, an elegant restaurant located in the Prati district opened in May 2021, born from the ashes (as it happens) of one of the best Chinese restaurants of the time. Owned by the Okasan Group (already the owners in Rome of Okasan, Otosan, Hiromi cake and Hiromi La Maison), Song celebrates one of the specialties of Hong Kong cuisine: dim sum - a term that literally translated means “touch to the heart” -, typical raviolos from the Asian country that can be steamed or griddled and filled with many types of ingredients. Song has as many as 26 variations of them on the menu, ranging from meat to fish to vegetables; for the more curious, however, you can opt for the tasting menu, a 7-course course served one at a time and in the correct order of flavor.

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An authentic experience, made possible thanks to the vision of the Okasan Group, which has left nothing to chance for this sign: in fact, to direct the kitchen we find Chu Ling San, a Chinese chef in Song's team since the opening, as well as Francesco Pietro Chiarillo, a young and passionate maître, who in these four years has had the opportunity to grow together with the restaurant and create a wine list that matches the culinary philosophy of the sign, with more than 50 available labels that tell a large part of Italian viticulture.

The Dishes

The first course is a chef's specialty: Xiao long bao, or ravioli steamed and filled with broth and pork. Thirty handmade folds for each piece, to be eaten in one bite to best appreciate its every nuance. We continue with the mood scallops, also steamed but with the flavor of scallops, shrimp and lime, which are very classic, while the rectangular dim sum whose dough-which consists only of water and rice flour-is worked with a natural beet extract that conceals an interior of shrimp wrapped in a crispy veil are decidedly intriguing. There is also room for the aesthetic beauty and seasonality of the truffle and mushroom ravioli from China, whose special feature is in the transparent dough composed of 70 percent rice flour and 30 percent wheat flour, with an elegant and decidedly wintery taste.

Song
 

The chef is also appreciated for his other typically Chinese preparations, such as Noodles with shrimp and scallops, sweet and sour soy, lime, beet sprouts and peas, or Steamed Sea Bass with Canton scents. The fish is then finished in front of diners with a boiling oil freshly heated in an elegant copper stove before being served at the table with ginger, fresh spring onion and a soy and sesame sauce.

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It ends in style with the famous Beijing Duck, a preparation that requires 36 hours of processing. In the beginning it is marinated, and after being dried, lacquered with honey and baked, while inside it is stuffed with spice, cinnamon, star anise, clove and fennel seeds, with a topping of tempura leek. At the table it is served with crepes, vegetable julienne and plum compote. This dish alone hints at the precision, attention to detail, and care the chef applies to each course on the menu.

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The dessert is also striking in taste and rigor, a yuzu mousse with raspberry glaze, red berry cream and topped with a matcha tea savoy.

Contact

Via Valadier 14 - 00193 Rome

Phone 06. 3215804

info@songdimsum.it

Website.

Open daily for both lunch and dinner

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