Dawn Asian Restaurant 晓餐厅

I came here for lunch a few days ago and ordered dim sum and fried rice with chicken. The entrance from the street side gives the impression that the restaurant is closed but if you walk in further, you'll see it's open. There were no other guests there. The staff was friendly. The fried rice with chicken was good but a little too sweet for my taste. I was asked for my feedback by the owner and she reacted positively to my feedback.

I’ll start by saying I’m ethnic Chinese and came with my family for authentic Chinese food but was disappointed by this place. The ostrich hot pot was way too oily and not flavorful enough, and it was chocked full of bean sprouts and few other ingredients. The pekin duck was not bad, but too pricey. And the char siu was very small in portion. The service was mediocre, with only one server waiting on 5-6 tables. Our hotpot was served without the fire on, and I had to ask 3 times for the bowl of rice I ordered. In general it was a disappointing experience and we won’t be back soon.

POTATOES!! Oh I am a sucker for their sweet and sour potatoes good god. I think I had 2 orders of it this run through and.. AHAHAHA oh our poor waiter. Zen, she’s a lovely sweetheart I guarantee it. Just know she’s what I’m there for first, then the food okay? The honesty she has is always refreshing and allows me to really enjoy my meal. Helpful gauging which items would and wouldn’t be good in the moment, all while pouring me a fine glass to drink. I will say, I witnessed an entire order of duck be scarfed down by a scrawny man. I was impressed and horrified to say the least but hey, if that means I’ll have another partner to come and eat here with then I am more than happy. Addition!! Lamb Skewers and the Crispy Pork Belly are worth it! I snuck a few into the outing I had recently into my order and devoured it with my loads on loads of potatoes 😋 Glad to always come in and feel like I’m at home. Zen, stay kicking girl 😎🤙🏽 GISELLE MY LOVELY LAADYY🤩🤩, keep your energy and attitude up queen 😤

Disappointing Experience at Dawn Asian Restaurant My recent visit to Dawn Asian Restaurant in Cape Town was unfortunately very disappointing. While I had hoped for an enjoyable meal, the reality fell far short of expectations. The food itself was a ok but the expensive cooked oysters were clearly off. My wife threw up in the street as we left the restaurant after eating an expensive meal. She did so well into the night until her stomach was empty. The overall experience left us feeling quite dissatisfied. I would caution others to consider their options carefully before choosing what you eat.

Amazing authentic chinese food. Great service and atmosphere Chinese wine served in 24K gold crystal glass and caraf. Highly recommended

Visited in June 2025. South Africa. Cape Town. 🇿🇦 A small Chinese restaurant, quite nicely decorated with many artistic elements, an open kitchen, and a beautiful bar area. FOOD: The restaurant specializes in Chinese cuisine with some other Asian influences. The menu is divided into categories: appetizers, dumplings, rice/noodles, and hot dishes. Pictures make it easier to choose. We started with oysters — lightly baked oysters with glass noodles, an interesting and unusual combination, but the overall oyster flavor got lost. Next, we tried several types of dumplings: shumai with pork and shrimp — tasty, generously filled with thin dough, all in the best Chinese tradition. The crispy prawn wontons were a hit — perfect crunch, good filling, and a suitable sauce. However, the soup dumplings fell apart while eating; broth leaked from two dumplings, and the dough was loose, causing them to tear. The lemon and pepper lobster tail featured a small portion of lobster tails with corn and chili pepper. The lobster tails were well cooked but quite difficult to peel from the shell. It would have been better if they were pre-peeled. SERVICE: The service was mediocre, to say the least. There was only one waiter in the dining area, and he was busy at another table, so we waited about 4 minutes to be seated. Overall, the service was basic — just bringing and clearing dishes. VERDICT: Almost everything we tried was tasty. Overall, if you’re craving Asian-Chinese food, this place will suit you. Just don’t expect great service.

Came here with my brother, lord I cannot believe why I never did sooner 😭 He’s here at least once a month, a regular for their pork and shrimp dumplings and the sweet and sour shredded potatoes (a glutton. i swear all i saw were potatoes on his side). I have to admit, they were pretty good. I had a handful myself. Pretty delicious. Personally, had the peking duck. Whole thing. Oh my lord 🤤🤤 I was in HEAVEN people. I’m telling you it was fantastically intensely scrumptious!! I felt so bad for our waiter, I think her name was Zen? I didn’t entirely catch it with the face my brother was making to her. But if she can put up with his chatter and still serve some killer dishes, count me in queen I’ll come here to watch my TV show and a good meal. 😋 More than willing to come solo, or with him again to eat and enjoy banter. 9.7/10 and will come again.

Impromptu search on Maps for Chinese cuisine and found a fellow Singaporean raving about this place, so we settled on it. To our surprise, our accommodation hosts had also listed it as one of their recommended restaurants in the hood, so we were even more assured. I had the mushroom soup hotpot (on a rainy day) and it was really flavourful. The portions of the ingredients were also good for 1 pax, which was wonderful.. because my husband could go ahead and order dishes with rice, instead of having to share the pot with me. He’d picked the charsiew, mapo tofu, string beans and trio pepper beef ribs and they were delightful! For someone who is very particular with charsiew, I’d 3 pieces at a go! The beef ribs were fancifully plated and they tasted as good as they looked! Just take note the portions of their dishes vary, so check before submitting your order(;

Not bad, but mains could be improved upon. Decor, service, atmosphere, cocktails and dim sum were great. Would definitely come back for those reasons, plus their bento lunch boxes. The Bok choy, char siu, sau mai, har gouw, xiao long bao, radish cake were things I’d order again. The mains that we ordered could be improved though - I understand that they are not catering to a predominantly authentic Asian population however. We had the salt and pepper squid, which was great but just tasted like normal calamari with no seasoning. The Cantonese pork belly wasn’t authentic at all and had a dry spice sprinkled over that tasted more Turkish than Asian. The crispy chicken wing stuffed with rice could be less dry and more seasoning in the chicken. Unfortunately, the custard buns were also filled with something that tasted like pure melted butter and not custard. The prices are astronomical and their portion sizes are small - it’s more of a ‘date night’ experience.

We had dumplings that were pretty good. The mains were okay. I ordered no onions and received food with onions. The waiters were great and friendly. My food was taken back to the kitchen where my assumption was I’d be made a new meal. However I received the same meal back with less onions. There were 5 prices of beef in the entire meal, I ate 3 before it was sent back. When I got the “new” meal back there weee 2 pieces in that. The waiter was very apologetic but nothing was done. Definitely not worth the money.