Brewery Bhavana
“Brewery Bhavana’s Scrumptious Dim Sum Brunch might only be rivaled by its gorgeous architectural design.”
The trials of being a 4th year medical student in the U.S. don’t stop at studying for exams, working long hours, and trying to obtain letters of recommendation. A trademark aspect of the final year of our training is a nomadic lifestyle as we pick up and move every month or so from one hospital system to the next, trying to gain a feel of what it’s like to potentially work there as a resident physician. I had the pleasant surprise of eating at Brewery Bhavana one September morning driving through Raleigh, NC from Danville, VA on one of these travel excursions. While driving a friend to Raleigh-Durham International Airport, we decided to grab a bite to eat - her treat as a thank-you for the 90 minute Uber Ride. We Googled nearby eateries and came across Brewery Bhavana, a dim sum restaurant on S Blount St near Moore Square. How lucky I felt when I finally walked across the park and into the restaurant to have stumbled upon this absolutely unique find!
Viewed from the outside, Brewery Bhavana looks like a non-descript renovated warehouse, a common finding in some of the older parts of East Coast downtowns. Many of these relics of the industrial age of textiles, coal, and other natural resources are often converted into rugged studio apartments or local businesses and this restaurant was no exception. However, as I stepped through its doors I was greeted to an incredible sight: an open floor concept with a brewery, taproom, flower shop, bookstore, dim sum house, and Chinese restaurant all rolled into one. The skylight allowed for an abundance of natural airy ambience and the gold, creme, and wood color scheme allowed for a sense of humble regality. With its bookshelves and curtains, the space was partitioned into three sections. The far left was a traditional brewery/taproom complete with bar and tables, the middle section was decorated like a flower shop/bookstore with some dining tables and had the most natural light, and the far right was a little dimmer but was the main dining area.
We were seated and taken care of by wonderful and knowledgeable staff who explained many of the items on the menu. Unlike the traditional dim sum with trolley-pushers who would bring steamed pork buns and dumplings by your table, this fine dining rendition of the Hong Kong marketplace was ordered a la carte. We took our server’s recommendation and ordered cabbage rolls, char siu bao, xiao long bao, and seafood dumplings that came with Chinese youtiao. Our tea of choice (because you can’t have Chinese food without something warm to wash it down!) was a dark fragrant Jasmine.
While my time eating that day was reminscent of Chinese fine dining, if you asked me whether I would recommend Brewery Bhavana for an authentically classic dim sum experience, then I couldn’t possibly say so. At the heart of dim sum is the trolley experience and affordable dishes that hover in the $5-8 price range. But, that doesn’t preclude the fact that the food we ate that day was delicious and immaculate in its own right. The char siu (steamed Cantonese barbeque pork) buns came out fluffy as a cloud and the meat inside tender, juicy and sweet. In the same way I might order eggs Benedict at a brunch place to compare as a standard, char siu buns The napa cabbage rolls surprised me with how bursting with umami they were thanks to the ground pork, mushroom, and ginger wrapped inside. Despite being fully cooked, the vegetable wrap component still maintained its firmness and texture rather than being overly soggy (as is easy to encounter with these kinds of foods). Good xiao long bao (or soup dumplings) are notoriously hard to find at any given dim sum house. Some restaurants don’t even offer it on the menu because of how difficult they are to get correct and others have perfected the craft and are known almost exclusively for their xiao long bao. Brewery Bhavana’s xiao long bao are interesting in that the soup itself inside and filling of steamed crab and ground pork were incredibly tasty and warm, but the dumpling skins that day seemed too thick and at times felt cumbersome to chew through. The seafood dumplings were the most expensive thing we ordered and were triangular dumpling skins in a black mushroom sauce filled with lobster, shrimp, and scallops. While the dumplings themselves were simply delectable, the unsung hero of the lunch was the youtiao! Youtiao, or Chinese fried dough sticks, are often served together with congee or rice porridge. They’re meant to be dipped in the soup or liquid that they are served with and these were perfectly fried and chewy. They soaked up the leftover black mushroom sauce and were an incredible vessel and provided an explosion of flavor that had me asking for more youtiao.
I would definitely bring a friend, family member, or date to Brewery Bhavana. Even while the price point for the food itself is a bit much for what I think the food quality is, the interior design is unique enough to deserve a visit. As I continue my food journey and memorialize each major step with these posts, I have begun to learn that the food itself is important but not the sole feature of any dining destination. In the case of Brewery Bhavana, its interior design choices are one of its greatest strengths.
Fun fact: The word “Bhavana” comes from the spoken language Pali or written script of Sanskrit. Bhāvanā (Pali; Sanskrit: भावना, also bhāvanā) literally means "development" or "cultivating" or "producing" in the sense of "calling into existence". It is an important concept in Buddhist practice (Patipatti).
Food Quality: 7.5/10
Meal Value: 8.5/10
Dining Experience: 7.5/10
Overall: 7.83/10
