Grub Crawl - Windermere and Millenia: Dim Dim Sum and Pho 813

I tried these places last night. The first is at the intersection of Conroy and Apopka Vineland. You get off 1-4 by the Mall at Millenia and cross Kirkman and go all the way to Olympia High School. The corner with Hawkers. Far left if coming that way. The second is near the Target on Conroy just off I-4.

Dim Dim Sum - Kind of well named. Not the brightest of dim sum stars. I had shrimp dumplings, chao zhou fun guo dumplings and xiao long bao (that they don't call dumplings but are). They only served three per order. Shrinkflation seems to be how they are reacting to the current economic environment. Shanghai Lane did it to me too last month. The shrimp were good. Whole pieces. No stink or off flavors. They didn't steam them long enough. The exterior was pasty and fell off. A little better with the chao. They were ground and whole pork with chives and peanuts. Some gristly bits. Soft nuts. Maybe there were four to this order? Bigger, longer sized. The soup in the soup dumplings wasn't great. Still not sure why they call them bao. Internet says bao is a steamed bread roll. As I believed. All these plates cost $6.50. Tea was $3.50. All are too costly if you ask me. The menu is small. 39 things. The place has a patio and windows up front. Open kitchen in rear. A few tables. Waterfall on far left. Modern. Red brick walls. Wood trim. Slate floors. Two servers. It was empty. Maybe because a Hawkers outpost is very close. Not worth the effort (even with the dearth of dim sum options). Open for 6 months. Don't see them surviving. 

Pho 813 - Open 2 months. Grabbed a tofu banh mi to go for $9. Never had one before. Never will again. Would have been better without the tofu. Just veg. Roll was unforgivable. Supermarket shit that was old and probably wetted down and nuked. This is the basic component of the dish. If this is how the treat this, I don't trust them to do anything well or trust their standards. It was to come with pate too. Didn't discern any. 813 is Tampa area code. Place is modern. Bar on left rear. dining area on right. Big mural there. White walls. Blues. Blacks. Same old menu. Had shrimp on sugar cane though. 

*I also "tried" a new chain place on 434 in Longwood called So Fresh. Such A Ripoff would be more accurate. Refused to pony up the $8 (to start - basically cheese) plus an extra $4+ for ANY protein. Many other things were extra too. My soda (sucked) cost $3. Nothing looked fresh. The cookies and brownies were even packaged from another company. Their "quesadilla" had mozzarella and two other even less Mexican cheeses in it.  Man I hate these fast casual, veganish ripoff joints. Can anybody stop the madness? THEY WILL NOT MAKE YOU SKINNY....ERR HEALTHY. THEY WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY. Open for a month.