French-Chinese dumplings? Oui!
Fusion cooking remains a tricky thing. Except when it’s done well and both of the cuisines being fused get their due. Like at Yikou in Paris, where you order a ‘wall’ of Franco-Chinese dumplings.
That wall is, of course, a reference to the Great Wall of China. And the stack of square bamboo steamers placed between you and your dining companion really does feel like a wall that can only be conquered by eating the trays empty one by one.
French cheese dumpling
And you want to. More than anything, in fact. After just the first dumpling filled with French cheese, you’re won over: fusion can work. As long as it’s done well. Like at this Parisian spot with stools and wall-to-wall graffiti on a still-undiscovered street in the trendy tenth arrondissement, off Canal St. Martin.
Yes, really: French-Chinese dumplings
‘The awakening of dim sum,’ is how Yikou describes it on its menu. ‘An impossible journey from yin to yang, from le terroir to exoticism, from beloved France to a dreamed-of China.’ Yes, the French and Chinese find each other not only in food, but also in poetic discourse, it seems…
Sum and Dim
Yikou consists of the French-Chinese duo Pierre and Chénxiào (surnames unknown). In their own words, they fit together like yang and yin, sum and dim. In short, they are a Franco-Chinoiserie. Where the steam rises (our own addition).
At Yikou, you can order individual steamed bites (and one fried one), or set menus with names like Yipster and Végexception. But if there are two of you, go for the wall for two. It comes with twelve different dumplings each, plus a side dish apiece, for the grand total of 26 euros per person.
Eggplant dumpling
Absolute highlights in that wall include the soup dumpling, the eggplant dumpling and, of course, that cheese dumpling. Order a cocktail with Franco-Chinese ingredients, a tea fusion or a perfectly complementary ginger juice to go with it.
Yikou
49 rue de l’Aqueduc (10th arrondissement)
Paris
Image: Marjan Ippel
