There are mornings when you wake up and know, with absolute certainty, that the day calls for something extraordinary. For me, that something is dim sum at Kirin Court, tucked inside a sprawling shopping plaza off Belt Line Road in Irving’s Las Colinas corridor. If you have never experienced the particular joy of a full Hong Kong-style dim sum service on a lazy Sunday morning, let me assure you: this is where you want to start.
Kirin Court has been a fixture in the DFW Chinese dining scene for years, and it has earned every ounce of its loyal following. The dining room is big — genuinely banquet-hall big — with round tables dressed for family-style feasting, red lanterns overhead, and the kind of cheerful, clattering energy that tells you real food is being taken seriously here. The room fills up fast on weekend mornings, and there is a reason the parking lot looks like a minor holiday by 10 a.m.
The dim sum experience at Kirin Court runs on the classic cart system, which means servers wheel gleaming stainless trolleys right past your table, lifting bamboo steamer lids to reveal treasures within. You point, they stamp your card, and suddenly your table is covered in har gow — those translucent shrimp dumplings with skins so delicate they almost disappear — alongside pillowy char siu bao, silky cheung fun rice noodle rolls draped in sweet soy, and crispy taro dumplings with that unmistakable honeycomb crust. The turnip cake, pan-fried golden on the outside and tender within, is not to be skipped under any circumstances.
What sets Kirin Court apart from a quick takeout run is the full theater of the experience. The carts keep coming, so every few minutes there is a new decision to make. Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves, steamed to fragrant perfection. Egg tarts with a buttery, slightly flaky shell cradling a wobbling custard center. Sesame balls that shatter gently when you bite through. Each dish arrives fresh from the kitchen, and the kitchen here clearly does not cut corners.
The service moves at the brisk, efficient pace you expect from a serious dim sum house, and the staff is accustomed to helping first-timers figure out what they are looking at. Go ahead and ask — pointing enthusiastically also works perfectly well, and nobody will mind.
Pricing is refreshingly reasonable for the sheer volume of food you will consume. A table of four can eat spectacularly well without breaking the budget, which makes Kirin Court one of the better value propositions in Irving’s dining landscape. Plan to arrive by 10:30 a.m. on weekends if you want to beat the rush, or embrace the wait with a cup of hot jasmine tea and the pleasant anticipation of what is coming.
Irving sits at a genuinely exciting crossroads of cultures and cuisines, and Kirin Court is one of the best expressions of that richness. Whether you are a dim sum devotee making a ritual Sunday pilgrimage or a curious newcomer ready to discover something wonderful, this restaurant delivers an experience that feels both special and deeply comfortable — the mark of a place that has been doing things right for a long time. Go hungry, bring people you like, and prepare to linger far longer than you planned.
