Dim Sum: my guilty pleasure

Sweets. Little Asian tapas. Bite-sized yummies. Cute food. Shared delicious moments. Get together with friends you haven’t seen in a while. Continuous supply of Jasmine tea. Eating without counting the calories. This is dimsum. My go-to seasonal visit to gather friends and eat to my heart’s content. Sometimes I need a two part series of it before I am satisfied, hahaha;)

Here are a list of my favorite foods ( but this is not a complete list):

1. Egg tarts

This fluffy, little and sweet delicacy is just the perfect beginning or ending to any dimsum. It needs to be consumed hot as its deliciousness diminishes with time. The tiny ones are my favorite.

2. Stuffed rice noodles with sweet soya sauce 

This is a staple of dimsum. It is hard to mess it up. However, it takes skill to make a truly amazing one. The chef needs to time the steaming of each layer perfectly or else you can tell that it isn’t smooth and silky upon biting it. The ingredients have to be fresh and marinated just right to get the blend or else it’ll taste like they were just haphazardly thrown together. I love the shrimp and BBQ pork flavours the most.

3. Shrimp dumpling

Every order of dimsum should include this. You will be able to tell the quality of dimsum by just ordering this one steamed item. If it is too chewy, falls apart easily or thick, then stop ordering at once. Their other items are not of concern anymore. Fresh shrimp is an obvious ingredient, so if it isn’t then this restaurant can go into your blacklist. There are many versions of it and I love the one with mushroom or scallop in it the most.

4. Steamed BBQ pork buns

This is just a mark of my childhood. I loved eating this for my birthday. My grandparents loved them and so I did too. That’s all;)

5. Garlic tossed snow pea leaves

This is a delicacy. I love the perfect crunch of them. They are my favorite. Nothing else compares. It’s good to have some healthy greens as we consume all these little dishes. Balances it all out. Or you can go for a run. Same difference.

6. BBQ pork pastry 

I still remember being first introduced to this amazing dish. I refused to eat fried stuff for a long time. This baked pastry is just sublime and I haven’t had anyone tell me they disliked it one bit. It is hard to make wrong and so it is always a solid and safe order. The best is the one at Dynasty on Broadway- they have lemon infused BBQ pork pastry. I still dream about the day I’ll be back.

7. Steamed tofu wrapped vegetarian roll

This is a very traditional dish. You can have it with pork or fully vegetarian. The crunchy variety of mushroom that they include there are just a delight to the palate.

What do you love to order? I love beef tripe and stomach, duck feet, porc ribs with pumpkin, shrimp spring rolls and cotton chicken as well. 

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned for next week’s take on ice cream!

Cheers!