Aug. 6, 2020

Dim sum has arrived in Sioux Falls.

The long-awaited Yummy House specializing in the bite-sized Chinese cuisine has opened, delayed from its expected opening in March as the COVID-19 pandemic reached the city. The restaurant is in a retail center on Sycamore Avenue, north of 26th Street, in the former Kowloon Chinese Restaurant space.

Diners can fill up on 82-year-old owner Lisa Louie’s steamed egg custard buns, fried sesame balls and shrimp suimai.

There are 48 varieties of dim sum that are made in-house daily, said Joyce Chan, Louie’s daughter. A few are available only on the weekend.

With the extra demand of customers wanting to try something new, some of the choices are selling out quickly, Chan said.

Dim sum traditionally is served in small steamer baskets from carts that circulate through a restaurant’s dining room. For now, because of the coronavirus, orders will come to the table directly from the kitchen. Eventually, cart service likely will be offered on the weekend, Chan said.

Prices range from $4.25 to $6.50.

In addition to dim sum, there’s an extensive menu of traditional Chinese entrees, soups and appetizers.

While the menu doesn’t list all the ingredients, there is a photo of every dish.

Yummy House also will have seafood nights on the weekend with fresh lobster, scallops and more, Chan said.

The restaurant offers a bubble tea bar, and all the food and drink is available for takeout.

It opens at 11 a.m. daily, and Chan said they haven’t finalized a closing time yet.

Chan and her mother, who are from China, owned and operated a large dim sum restaurant for about a decade in Memphis, Tenn. They sold it and moved to Sioux Falls in 2013. Chan said her mother has always wanted to have another restaurant, so they jumped at the chance to take over the former Kowloon space when the owners retired in September.

They kept the old booths for now, but Chan, who owns Stone City, installed new granite countertops and covered the chairs at the tables in red fabric. She’s a fan of Asian cartoons and painted fun characters on the restaurant’s walls.

Chan is already making plans for more restaurants in the city, including a Hello Kitty-themed offering and one specializing in Korean barbecue.