Whenever I’m with someone new to dim sum, I always make them try fung zao. I know it sounds gross but it tastes amazing. It’s a bite of shrimp with chewy rice noodle and a sweet sauce and it’s absolutely amazing.Ĭhicken feet cooked and served in a fermented soy bean sauce. I usually see beef stuffed noodles or shrimp stuffed noodles, but I always always always go for the shrimp ones. Cheong fan are steamed rice noodles stuffed with meat and covered with a sweet sauce. We order like three plates of these when we dim sum and the plates are always cleaned off. Steamed buns stuffed with sweet and savory barbeque pork. These are shrimp dumplings with a chewy, translucent skin that hold delicious shrimp inside. This is a really good dish for people who are new to dim sum. The chewy dumpling skin surrounds seasoned chives for a mouthful of flavor. These plump dumplings are usually good for the vegetarians (to be safe it would be a good idea to double check for meat, recipes differ from restaurant to restaurant). They are steamed in a basket and differ from dumplings because they have an open top. The dumplings usually have a translucent wrapper stuffed with ground shrimp or pork. Siu mai ( steamed pork or shrimp dumplings) In my family, we also had the youngest person pour the tea, but I don’t think that follows traditional Chinese tea etiquette. A little note on Chinese tea etiquette: if a friend pours tea for you and you’re busy and cannot vocally thank them, tap three fingers on the table to indicate thanks. Make sure to let your tea steep before pouring it. The couple popular ones seem to be jasmine, chrysanthemum, green, and oolong tea. The restaurant usually offers a decent variety of teas in addition to the house tea. Step 1 to dim sum is the tea! I always get chrysanthemum because it has a nice sweet balance to the many salty and greasy meats that I tend to eat with my family. But usually, they will all cover the basics like dumplings, siu mai, stuffed buns, and a variety of meat and vegetable dishes. The dishes served at each restaurant varies, some things will be available at one place but not the other. This means that the dishes are already prepared and nice Chinese ladies walk around pushing the carts while you point at foods you want to try. Hei La Moon and China Pearl both use the serving carts, which are part of the novelty of dim sum. Another plus for most people is that many of the servers can speak English at those two restaurants. I’ve been to Hei La Moon and China Pearl Restaurant, two of the more popular ones based on food quality, price, and seating capacity. In Boston’s Chinatown, there are at least 5 well known dim sum places. Be sure to bring some friends since it’s all about sharing good food with good friends!įor good, cheap dim sum, go where the Asians go. But don’t let that deter you from dim sum-they have many dishes that are less exotic and good introductory foods for those who had never tried dim sum. I was exposed to the weirder plates like chicken feet and duck tongue at an early age and those are still my favorites. Being from a Chinese family, I started going at a very young and I loved it (and I still do!). Dim sum is a very communal or familial event, and it’s best in groups. It is served starting around 10AM and ends around 3PM. It refers to wide range of small plates eaten with tea, sort of like Spanish tapas mixed with Western morning tea. Shared spaces beget shared experiences, and Bombay was more open and welcoming for the existence of these cafés.ĭishoom pays homage to the Irani cafés and the food of all Bombay.Dim sum, or yum cha (literally, “drink tea”) in Cantonese, has gained popularity in the States. People from all walks of life shared tables, rubbed shoulders and broke bread together. They were the first places in Bombay where people of any culture, class or religion could take cool refuge from the street with a cup of chai, a simple snack or a hearty meal. These cafés broke down barriers by bringing people together over food and drink. Opened early last century by Zoroastrian immigrants from Iran, there were almost four hundred cafés at their peak in the 1960s. Bentwood chairs were reflected in stained mirrors, next to sepia family portraits. Students had breakfast, families dined, lawyers read their briefs and writers found their characters. Their faded elegance welcomed all: rich businessmen, taxi-wallas and courting couples. THE OLD IRANI CAFÉS have almost disappeared.
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