We Ate Pickled JELLYFISH at a Restaurant in Austin, & Loved It!

"Qi Austin" is an upmarket Texas restaurant featuring a farm-to-table menu of dim sum and elevated Chinese cuisine.

I deeply enjoy dim sum. There are a few different translations, but majorly, “dim sum” is translated from Cantonese as the phrase “touch the heart” or “point of the heart”.

Dim sum is to a Chinese meal, (small plates of dumplings and other snack/smaller dishes accompanied by tea), as tapas are to the Spanish food culture. The concept also reminds me a bit of the banchan notion in Korean cuisine, which are the plentiful small side dishes served along with cooked rice.

My family loves dining in this manner.

“Family style” dishes are shared amongst the table and that way, we can all try many more flavors within one meal, as opposed to each individually ordering just one larger plate.

According to AsiaSociety.org, the Cantonese dim sum culture began in tearooms in the latter half of the 19th century in the port city of Guangzhou.

My daughter and I’s favorite dim sum dish is Chizhi Feng Zhao (chicken feet). I actually added this restaurant to our Austin trip itinerary, (watch the vlog here!) because of the above Instagram post. Chizhi Feng Zhao is whole chicken feet, with the claws removed, that have been deep-fried and then braised usually in a rich but tad sweet fermented black bean sauce, until tender.

I’m telling you - the experience of eating dim sum chicken feet, is like scoring ALL of the flat chicken wing portions, but particularly that long part where the chicken skin and meat melts together (do you know what I’m talking about?!) Anyway, it’s just so superb and probably would be one of my last day on Earth meal choices, not joking.

Upon arriving, the first thing that we attempted to order were the chicken feet. To our dismay, they told us that they only serve chicken feet on the weekends. We were SO disappointed, BUT, that quickly faded once our other chosen dishes started to arrive at the table.

One dish in particular, had us equally puzzled and excited. We had never eaten jellyfish before. Did you know that you can consume some species of jellyfish? They are actually a seafood delicacy in many Asian countries, commonly eaten raw or in pickled appetizer salad type of dishes.

The texture is surprisingly crunchy with a slight chew. Also to my surprise, each bite reminded me of another one of my favorite Chinese dishes, Beef Tendon Noodles—with the tendon chunks always being my absolute gelatinous dream bites of food!

This particular “appetizer” or dim sum plate at Qi Austin, is their “Pickle Platter”. It consisted of pickled cucumbers, radish, mushrooms and the jellyfish! Honestly, you really only taste the actual pickling ingredients, since the jellyfish itself doesn’t have a flavor—more so just a texture and ability to soak up and take on whatever you prepare it with.

Of the thousands of species, only around 8 or 9 have been found to be edible. Moon jellyfish are one of the edible kind, also found commonly along shorelines of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans…a beloved treat of sea turtles.

Jellyfish “meat” really seems to be a blank canvas, with its’ ability to soak up any flavor. The flavor from our dining experience, was that of a sweet and sour (greatly balanced) soy sauce-like vinaigrette. We actually REALLY loved it and I wouldn’t mind seeing it on more menus elsewhere! ;)

Qi Austin also had a pretty interesting drink menu as well. S and I decided to try the “Tingling Electric Daisy”, which was listed as: “Malfy Con Limone Gin, Yuzuri, lemon, Szechuan Buzz Button Flower”…to which we were even more intrigued after our delightful waitress told us that the garnish is actually an edible flower that goes by many names, and has a uniquely "electrifying" property when chewed on.

To be more frank, the “electric daisy”, “buzz button”, “toothache plant”, Szechuan Button—can hit you on an electrifying level. Yes, your tongue and mouth actually go numb for a brief period.

Sorry to disappoint, but given that we were dining with our children—we did not try to chew on the 9-volt battery flower garnish, this time!

In general, dim sum dishes typically include an assortment of seafood, meat and vegetables—prepared in various ways: baked, fried or steamed. We got an assortment of each. My son’s favorite are always of the crispy sort, so we started with the “Pan-seared Basil Chicken Dumplings”.

Now a dim sum experience never usually feels complete without a round of Xiu Long Bao (Soup Dumplings). So we ordered the “Crab Meat Fish Maw Soup Dumplings”:

These are delicately soft dumplings, filled with hot broth, served in a bamboo steamer. We also were given an assortment of dumpling sauces to dip the exterior in. They were thoroughly enjoyed.

Qi Austin partners with a local farm that supplies their restaurant kitchen with fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs, honey and eggs. They also HAND-MAKE all of their dumplings:

Aside from the exciting new experience of eating pickled jellyfish, another one of my favorite dim sum choices, is Har Gow, Xia Jiao (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings). There is just something about how soft the texture is of these nearly translucent wrappings, that I can’t get enough of!

Commonly made with rice paper (or another starch), they have a shrimp filling and are served with some mix of soy sauce, chili sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil.

I also REALLY LOVE another similar version of these, that are called Cheung Fun (Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls). I have had Cheung Fun many times at other dim sum restaurants, and always dream about it for days afterwards.

Not pictured, but my kids also enjoyed a Peking duck flatbread item that I had never seen before on a dim sum menu.

All in all, I definitely would recommend eating dim sum at Qi Austin, and I would also most definitely visit again myself—on the weekend of course ;) to try their chicken feet and dinner menu.

To conclude, I’m not shy about the fact that I am not a big dessert person. I would rather sit for a whole second round of savory dim sum, than eat a dessert…I know, I’m odd. BUT! I have two children who both very much enjoy dessert. Therefore, we did order two of the dessert options before leaving Qi Austin.

The above photo was their “Fly Me to the Moon” blueberry merengue-of-sort dessert with yuzu ice cream, it was very unique but a tad bit hard to bite. Regardless, my kids were obviously ecstatic, lol!

We also had this chocolate sphere dessert that unfortunately I cannot remember the name of (nor find listed online), but my kids were also happy with the bonbon hiding inside it.

For more information on Qi Austin, visit: https://qiaustin.com

Thank you for reading and supporting my shared experiences,

x. Heather

Please note that this article is based solely on my personal experience. My thoughts shared are authentic and I was not compensated in any way. This is not a sponsored post, and I more times than not, do not accept invitations because although many invited-dining outings can be lovely, I genuinely desire to experience as any other customer would.

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