Jean Le Boeuf review: Ginger Bistro, Fort Myers

• Ginger Bistro opened in February in Fort Myers.
• The restaurant serves excellent dim sum and delicious Asian-style barbecued meats.
• The dining room is clean and modern%2C but its best feature%3A Meat TV.

It might be the most magnificent sight — slabs of pork belly and ribs and whole ducks dangling from meat hooks as they slowly roast behind a pane of glass.

Look closely and you'll see rivulets of fat slowly, mesmerizingly tracing paths down the sides of each piece. You'll feel awkward for gawking as long as you do, until you see every other party that comes into Ginger Bistro do the same.

I've taken to calling it the Meat TV, and it's just one of the many things this modern Chinese-focused Asian restaurant gets right.

Ginger Bistro opened in February on the north-facing side of the plaza anchored by Burlington Coat Factory in Fort Myers. Its sign has long tempted me with promises of dim sum and Asian-style barbecue, so when I was seated at a table facing the Meat TV, then handed a dim-sum menu I could barely contain myself.

That meaty show is as functional as it is entertaining, because once that skin is crisply shellacked, and that meat sumptuous and tender — guess what? You get to eat it.

Get to Ginger Bistro early if you want the pork belly, which often sells out before dinner. If it's gone there's always the roast duck to fall back on, the skin all crunch and chew, the meat juicy with melted fat. That and an order of scallion pancakes, the slightly greasy (in the best way) kind that toe the line between French crepe and Indian naan, and you're all set.

If scallions aren't vegetable enough for you, throw in a plate of the green-papaya salad made with matchsticks of this tart fruit tossed with carrots and crushed peanuts in a dressing bright with the salty funk of fish sauce and the sweat-inducing heat of red chilies. The plate is a nod to Thailand, but many of Ginger Bistro's dishes hint at Hong Kong.

Pan-fried noodles are a classic from that area — thin egg noodles fried into what resembles a brick of ramen, then smothered in hearty gravies piled with seafood or peppery beef. The gravy infuses and softens the noodles. The result is addictive — kind of like watching Meat TV.

And then there's dim sum.

For the adventurous braised chicken feet and two kinds of beef tripe beckon. Not quite ready to dive in to the dim-sum pool like that? Get your feet wet with tender shrimp balls encased in an armor of slivered almonds. Or pan-fried pork buns, three-bite balls of impossibly fluffy dough surrounding a porky filling that's smooth as velvet. There are Chao Zhou-style dumplings filled with ground shrimp and pork laced with chopped peanuts. And shumai, little purse-style dumplings bursting with meaty riches.

There are more than 10 styles of dumplings on Ginger's 41-item dim-sum menu, but the soup dumplings were the first to catch my eye. These are the first soup dumplings I can recall seeing in Lee County, and while they're not quite to New York or San Francisco standards, they're still good — supple skins cupping wee meatballs and a light broth. They're best served with a dash of black vinegar, and a soup spoon so you don't lose a single drop.

If there is more than one of you, you'll want two orders. It's fine sharing the Meat TV, but soup dumplings are a whole new level of magnificence, one that should never be shared.

Jean Le Boeuf is the nom de plume of a local food lover who dines at The News-Press' expense. Follow the critic at facebook.com/jeanleboeufswfl or @JeanLeBoeuf (Twitter).

Ginger Bistro

4650 S. Cleveland Ave., Fort Myers

• Food: ★ ★ ★ ½

• Atmosphere: ★ ★ ★ ☆

• Service: ★ ★ ★ ☆

• Price: $-$$$

• Hours: 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday

• Call: 689-3113

• Web: find it on Facebook

• Noise level: Low to moderate

• Etc.: Takeout available; efficient and gracious service on my visits; vegetarian menu; beer, wine and sake served.

Sample of the menu

Dim sum and appetizers

• Steamed ginger soup bun, $3.95

• Scallion pancake, $5.95

• Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings, $7.95

Entrees

• Basil chicken, $10.95

• Beef with XO sauce, $14.95

• Peking duck for two with steamed buns, $35