~ What is Dim Sum ~

Still not done unpacking yet. So, no pictures of my new supplies and other items from Hong Kong. Instead, I will tell you more about food! Have you ever had dim sum? It's pretty much a Cantonese thing. Dim sum is a kind of food that's served in very small portions usually for breakfast or lunch. It's kind of like tapaz. Most dishes are steamed though some are sauteed or fried. In America, when you want dim sum, you would say you want dim sum. But, in Chinese, you would really say, "I want to 'drink tea'" because drinking tea is a big part of the meal. The servers will usually ask you what kind of tea you would like when you sit down.


Anyways, I had dim sum like at least 3 times a week when I was in Hong Kong. Not only is the food really good, it's also a very atmosphere for gatherings with friends. The food comes out slowly and you get to hang out with your friends and family and drink tea at the same time. It's definitely very fun. There are a lot of traditional items for dim sum. In the back of the following pictures, you can see siu mai which is pretty much pork and shrimp wrapped in a delicate yellow...wrapper. The white dumplings are shrimp dumplings. It's beef balls in front of the dumplings and the thing to the left is chicken and other stuff wrapped in tofu skin.


This is sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf. There's usually chicken, black mushroom and other meats in the middle.


Very tender steamed ribs with black beans and chili peppers.


Chicken feet and taro wrapped in tofu skin. Other typical dishes are bbq pork buns, chicken feet, and steamed rice noodles (churn fun).


Traditionally, the dim sum is wheeled around in a cart while the server yells out what dishes she has in her cart. When you see something you want, you tell the server and she'll give you the dish and put a stamp on your receipt card. Now, most restaurants don't use carts anymore. Instead, they have papers with the dishes and you check off which ones you want. Then, you give it to the servers and they will bring out the dishes for you. Every dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong has different specialty dim sum dishes. Here are some pictures of specialty dim sum. Everything was delicious!






There's plenty of desserts amongst the dim sum dishes too. This one is quite popular when I was in Hong Kong. It's called something like "flowing cream bun". The cream inside the soft white bread is so deliciously creamy that it will flow out of the bun if you are not careful.


Looks like creme brulee right? I don't remember what it was though.


Can you tell which pictures I took with my DSLR vs the phone? Unlike my brother who took his camera everywhere, I was way too lazy. In Hong Kong, I had to walk and take public transportation every where. It's a pain to carry the big DSLR around. Besides, I was shopping most of the time. My hands were full with shopping bags :)