Red Ginger Dim Sum & Tapas named Best Chinese Restaurant in WNC year after year.

Any food writer will attest that one of the most asked questions from friends and strangers is “Where can I find good Chinese?”

Mai Medvedev and Stephan Wang, who grew up in China, had the same question when they moved to Asheville in 2004. “When we moved here, we didn’t see authentic Chinese, it was all very Americanized, like fast food,” Mai says. “The ingredients were not very elevated.”

It would be another 12 years before they would pick up the ‘good Chinese’ challenge themselves, opening Red Ginger Dim Sum & Tapas on Patton Avenue in downtown Asheville on February 16, 2016. Every year since, they have been voted Best Chinese Restaurant in the annual Mountain Xpress Best of WNC Awards, achieving Hall of Fame status in 2020.

“We are very proud of that,” Mai says. “We use local produce and local beef, and ingredients we can’t get locally, we order from Asian markets in New York or Atlanta. We try to present very authentic food, like we eat at home.”

Aside from the fresh ingredients, authentic dishes prepared by chefs Ben Chen and Kevin Jiang and the sophisticated design of the serene interior, what sets Red Ginger apart is their commitment to offering a dim sum experience – for diners who crave it, as well as to introduce it to those who have never visited a big city Chinatown where dim sum is prevalent.

Dim sum is recognized as small Chinese dishes, two or three bites, often served midday and enjoyed with tea. In China, there are hundreds of dishes that fall into the dim sum category. In NY’s Chinatown, servers wheel small carts loaded with dim sum on plates, in small bowls and bamboo steam baskets from table to table for diners to point and choose. At the end of the meal, the server counts the plates on the table and writes the check accordingly.

Mai says she and Stephen discussed using carts but weren’t confident Asheville would support the volume required to justify the cost. Instead, they opted for an open kitchen with a chef’s bar where diners can watch their food being made, and a menu that clearly defines each dim sum dish. The dim sum items share categories like vegetable, meat/poultry, and seafood with tapas – small plates of more familiar Chinese dishes like spring rolls, stir fries, smoked duck breast, spicy chicken, and wide rice noodles known as Chow Fun. Each menu item is marked with a D or T.

A meal made of dim sum might include dumplings, which are hand filled, sealed and steamed, and can include mushrooms, veggies, pork, or shrimp and chive; Shanghai soup dumplings; shu mai; sticky rice in a lotus leaf wrap; steamed

Chinese eggplant with spicy garlic sauce; salt and pepper prawn; Szechuan wontons; and steamed buns filled with roast pork loin. One of the most popular dim sum orders is the gua bao — three Chinese pancakes folded like a taco and filled with slowly cooked pork belly, fresh cucumber, scallion and cilantro.

Foon Zao is thoughtfully translated as chicken feet – which scares off some dim sum novices – but those who have acquired a taste for them can indulge on weekends at Red Ginger.

Everyone, it seems, loves the stir-fried string beans, even those who say they don’t like green beans. “What happens is someone else at the table will order them and lets everyone try, and the person who hates string beans ends up loving them. They are delicious, but their popularity surprises Stephen and me.”

With the exception of Thanksgiving, Red Ginger is open every day, including Christmas, to accommodate people for whom Chinese food is a tradition on December 25.

Mai says they have many diners who have been coming to Red Ginger since their first year in business, when they weren’t sure what to expect from Asheville, and are deeply grateful for the local support and loyalty. “When you eat a people’s food, you learn about their culture. You know a people through their food. I love seeing our guests come in and try food they haven’t had and enjoy it. We hope that every dish in some way echoes the soul of China.”

More on Red Ginger Dim Sum & Tapas

— Written by Kay West

Photos courtesy of Red Ginger
First photo: Red Ginger’s exterior and patio seating on Patton Avenue
Second photo:  Steamed chicken feet
Third photo:  Customer favorite, stir-fried string beans

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