This could be because it’s in Hyde Park Corner shopping centre, it could be the presence of mirrors, or more likely because of the rangeof dim sum and small portion sizes that can be snacked on at any time of day.
So Yum specialises in dim sum, which, at least in the West, seems to be used interchangeably with yum cha, which means “drink tea”. Confusingly, this also appears to refer to the range of small portions of food that are eaten with the tea.
So, start with a “flowering tea”. These are little balls of tea leaves that the waiter pops into the glass teapot. The ball gradually opens, like an anemone, revealing a flower among the leaves. I tried the Morning Glory, a kind of gentle jasmine, and the Double Happiness, which has a delicate honeyed aftertaste. These all stimulate the appetite, which will help you to get to grips with the large menu.
The gau — translucent wrappers of rice pastry, through which the filling can be dimly glimpsed — are served in bamboo steamers. Try the butternut (R39), or the prawn and celery (R45), which tastes very fresh and clean.
The steamed buns also arrive in the steamers and are about halfway between a golf and a cricket ball in size. This means you have to open your jaw to almost breaking point to fit it in your mouth in one go, or prise the bun apart with chopsticks. This can make a terrible mess. The vegetable filling (R39) is good: slices of wakame, vermicelli and strips of celery. The texture of the bun is slightly stodgy, but somehow comforting.
The sesame prawn toast (R49) — minced prawn smeared on bread and then deep-fried — is hearty, in the way you would expect something deep-fried to be. The vegetable crystal spring rolls (R39), are not cooked at all, and are packed with rolled-up basil, vermicelli, peanuts and black bean sauce.
It’s strange how another restaurant in the chain, such as Oyo in the mall in Bedfordview, can get this same item so wrong — bland and too tightly wrapped, which perhaps could serve as a description of the suburb itself. Some of the other restaurants in the stable are Orient in Melrose Arch and the famous Wangthai in Nelson Mandela Square.
Back at So Yum, another guilty pleasure is the skewered deep-fried tofu (R39), improbably secured in place by a baby tomato and drenched in way too much sweet chili sauce and a dusting of crushed peanut. Another improbable thing is a deep-fried pumpkin fritter (R42), with cheese, and a spinach and cheese gau (R42). At least they don’t have biltong sushi.
For something more substantial, try the beef udon with basil and chilli (R78), and the curries, of the Thai yellow and green variety, are surprisingly good.
Perhaps because So Yum is situated in a mall, small children will often find themselves dragged into the place. I watched a toddler have a lot of fun, and perhaps a little lunch, deconstructing a salmon fashion sandwich.
So Yum, Lower Level, Hyde Park Corner shopping centre, corner of Jan Smuts Avenue and 6th Road, Hyde Park. Tel: 011 325 5360