What’s Your Favourite Dim Sum?
Mar 13th, 2009 by admin
I haven’t had any dim sum since I was in Hong Kong a few months ago. I think I ate so much Chinese food during those two and a half weeks in Hong Kong and Beijing that I thought I’d take a prolonged break. But now I’m starting to crave dim sum again, and am planning a few trips to various London restaurants old and new to see what’s out there. I won’t be repeating last year’s research where I tried far too many dim sum restaurants in order to write Where To Eat Dim Sum In London, but on the other hand, it does need updating! Over the next two weeks, I’ll be eating at Golden Palace in Harrow and at Peninsula in Greenwich, neither of which I’ve been to before.
Now that I’m planning dim sum trips, I’m naturally thinking about what I’d most like to eat. I’ve always loved har gau (prawn dumpling), but it’s got to be perfectly crunchy inside, with a non-sticky and translucent skin. Cheung fun is also a must, whether char siu or prawn. Again, this shouldn’t be sticky! Recently I’ve started ordering lor mai gai (glutinous rice with chicken and lap cheung wrapped in lotus leaf) and paper wrapped prawn, which if prepared properly is delicious and not too greasy. Finally, a dim sum lunch for me has to finish with a dan taat (egg tart) or two. I like the flaky pastry over the shortcrust version, but if there’s no choice, I’ll still eat the shortcrust one! I like these served warm, at the end of my meal, not the beginning. It’s bizarre how many restaurants serve these first.
But I’m more interested in finding out what YOUR favourite dim sum are! Even if you’ve only been once or twice, you’ll still have favourites or at least preferences. One friend’s absolute favourite that she always insists on ordering is fried dough stick cheung fun. It also happens to be my mother’s favourite, while my brother loves prawn and Chinese chive dumplings. And a colleague obsesses over char siu bao (barbecue pork buns).
I conducted a quick Twitter poll (I’m @foodieguide) and received the following responses:
- wor tip (grilled dumplings), beef balls, squid in curry sauce, jellyfish, har gau (prawn dumpling), fried dough stick cheung fun, steamed tripe with spring onion & ginger, ma lai goh (dessert of steamed sponge cake). I have to point out, all these favourites are from Lizzie over at Hollow Legs!
- wu kok (yam croquettes), cheung fun, har gau (prawn dumpling) , egg tarts, lo bak goh (pan-fried turnip paste), lo mai fan (glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf) and tofu fa (dessert of sweet tofu) – from Su-Lin at Tamarind and Thyme
- har gau, prawn cheung fun, turnip cake, beancurd skin rolls in oyster sauce, chicken feet, lor mai gai and dessert of tofu fa or coconut pudding – from Charmaine at tasty treats!
- wu kok, siu mai (especially with quail egg on top!), fried or braised stuffed tofu skin – from Gary Soup
- prawn cheung fun & char siu bao (barbecue pork buns)
- prawn dumplings and fried dough stick cheung fun
- venison puffs at Yauatcha & grilled dumplings
- venison puffs at Yauatcha
- char siu cheung fun (barbecue pork)
- char siu bao
- sesame balls (sweet or savoury filling)
Thanks to everyone who responded on Twitter! And I look forward to hearing about your favourite dim sum!
Other posts you may be interested in:
Check out the Useful Info page for more informational posts on Chinese food.
My absolute numero uno is Pak Fa Yee Toh Kau (White Flower Fish Maw Dumpling)- this steamed dumpling covered with egg white sauce is sublime. Harbour City (a relatively well kept secret for trad dim sum) in Chinatown is the best place for this dish. Two other dimmies that I never fail to order include Sa Loot Meng Har Kok (Prawn Dumplings with Salad Sauce-deep fried heaven!) and Tai Saik Foong Chow (Thai style boneless chicken feet- swoon…).
Oh, I thought there might be something niggling away, the Xiaolongbao at Leong’s Legends deserves a mention as well.
Ah yes! Leong’s siu long bao are great. My list is particularly long – how greedy am I?! Crispy Duck on Gerrard Street also do a great Thai-style baby octopus dish. Yum.
faves i always order when having dim sum:
har gau, char siew bao (or char siu sow), lo bak gou,
meng har kok – fried prawn dumplings with salad cream
pai guat – steamed pork ribs in black bean sauce
har cheong and zha leong
feng zhao – chicken feet
mango pudding!
I can’t believe pan fried cuttlefish cake hasn’t been mentioned yet ! In no particular order, I’d also make sure that har gau, char siu bao, char siu puff, wu kok, prawn cheung fun and fried dough stick cheung fun also end up on the table !
The best dim sum dish I’ve eaten was cheung fun filled with fried cuttlefish paste. I can’t remember the proper Chinese name but I’ll try my best to describe it. It looks like fried dough stick cheung fun as the filling has a crispy exterior but then you bite and it has a springy texture similar to fried cuttlefish cake. Now the bad news, I had this dish at the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou and I’m not sure anywhere does it in the UK.
I must always, always have har gow (prawn dumplings) and har chueng fun. Not very original I know, but I am an addict! Must come from the fact that I use to eat it once a week growing up. Oh how nostalgic…
Oh, and I usually try to get a veg too to make myself feel better – some gai lan usually.
There’s also a baked tapioca dessert that I came across in Vancouver that I adored but other renditions haven’t been the same. This one had a baked biscuity/cakey layer.
Pork ribs rice and fried lo bak gou @ Imperial China
Venison puff @ Yauatcha!
Salt & pepper squid is popular here in Au for yum cha. Ditto cheung fun which is without filling but fried so it has slightly crispy bits. Very good. I also like “larp mei fan” as in the sticky rice dish and ham sui gok. I don’t think of siu long bao as food for yum cha even though you can sometimes get it. I like to have it at Shanghainese restaurants, of which there are some great ones in Sydney!
Char siu sow (sweet roast pork in flaky pastry); ngau pak yeep (bible tripe) or yow yu (squid) in satay sauce; goon tong gau (giant seafood dumpling in soup), and nai wong bao (steamed buns with sweet custard filling). Now you’ve made me hungry!
I love ‘ja leung’ – cheung fun wrapped deep fried dough. yum!!!!
then the usual lot…
har gau, siu mai, har cheung, thai style chicken feet, bbq pork bun, octupus balls, deep fried wonton.. wish i can go yumcha now!
Hi,
I shouldn’t read your posts just before dinner; I get so hungry. How is life? Email me soon to catch up.
I love ALL dim sum, but the things I like best from childhood are the baos – char sui, gai (chicken and shitake mushrooms), leen yung (lotus seed paste), choi yuk (pork and veg) and lap chong (Chinese sausage) – fluffy white bread pastry and yummy centres, steaming hot in bamboo steamers. Break them open and smell the aromas!
Take care,
Susan S. Cheung
Vegetarian Turnip Cake @ Lock Cha Teashop, Hong Kong Park! Made by Monks! I will return….
Fat Les – thanks, unusual choices of dim sum (apart from XLB which I love)! Haven’t been to Harbour City in years…
Lizzie – I’ve had that baby octopus dish at Crispy Duck. It was delicious!
lise – you and Fat Les are both fans of meng har kok! I forgot to add pai guat to my list of favourites. Yummmm.
Sung – you’re right, I love that! Thanks for letting me know about the cheung fun with fried cuttlefish paste. Do let me know if you remember the name. I’ve not had it before…
A Girl Has To Eat – oh, I always have to have those too. When I was little, I was known as Har Gau Princess as I could eat loads of them on my own!
Su-Lin – baked tapioca dessert?? Did you take photos of it? I love tapioca…
Pigpigscorner – the venison puffs are popular! My photo was taken at Hakkasan, but they’re the same…
aptronym – thanks for letting us know what’s popular in Australia for dim sum!
Michele – great choices! I particularly like char siu sow…
Suzie – excellent list. Yes, ja leung is a popular dim sum, it seems.
Susan S. Cheung – thanks for reminding us about the baos, some great choices. I tend to avoid baos because they fill me up too quickly and I like to leave room for everything else!
GP – yes, we know you love your vegetarian turnip cake. We’ll go back to Lock Cha soon…
Thanks for all your comments!
Helen Yuet Ling
In all that time I lived in Shenzhen, I never went out for dim sum. I never had the desire to seek out Cantonese food. Sorry, I like northern Chinese cuisine much more.
By the way, I can read your blog again now that I’m back in the states (but I think you’re still blocked in China).
One of my favourites is Squid Cake. The slight “chewie-ness†is what makes it good.
The Cockroach Catcher
Chinamatt – unbelievable, your time in Shenzhen must have been tough for you! I’d have been in heaven. Someone in Beijing did access my blog, so she must have been using some proxy server thing. Anyway, I hope you’re adjusting to life back in the States…all the best!
Dr Am Ang Zhang – yes, squid cake is very tasty! The table next to us at Golden Palace today ordered squid cake, lovely and plump too…
Helen Yuet Ling
I love Dim Sum! There are a couple great places in Boston for dim sum, Chau Chow City and China Pearl. I love lo bak goh and char siu bau, the last time I was out for dim sum they were out of both! I was traumatized!
One Food Guy – excellent favourites! It’s great to hear you have good dim sum restaurants nearby. I feel so sorry for dim sum fans who live nowhere near a good restaurant…
Helen Yuet Ling
Char siu bao is a must for any dim sum experience, but aside from that for me half the fun is being surprised at the choices I have selected, especially at the walk in dim sum places. There seems to be a core set of common dim sum dishes, but the fun is when you find the unique dishes that lie on the fringe. I am lucky to live in SF, and we can get some good variety around here.
OysterCulture – I like my classics, but I do admit I like a surprise now and again. The other day, I had some grilled dried shrimp cheung fun (with dips of hoisin and sesame paste/peanut butter), which was quite nice! I love Chinatown in SF, but are the good dim sum restaurants to be found there or elsewhere?
Helen Yuet Ling
Hi Helen,
In the Richmond District is Ton Kiang, which for some is the gold standard, but like all things dim sum – that is open for passionate debate. http://www.tonkiang.net/ Koi Palace in Daly City also has legends of fans, and we just discovered S&T Hong Kong Sea Food on Noriega Street in the Outter Sunset District of San Francisco. All very good, all we deem worthy of repeat visits. In the US, and I understand its getting its foot in the door in the UK, is an online review called, Yelp – you at least get an initial idea of what’s in store for your visit.
OysterCulture – thanks for the recs, I hope others in or visiting SF will be able to visit. And me too one day in the hopefully not too distant future! I’ve heard of Yelp. It’s not had much positive coverage, whether here or in the States, from what I’ve read!
Helen Yuet Ling
I have a new fave to add to the list – Prawn & Wasabi Dumpling !
Sung – hey, where did you have that? Sounds delicious…
Helen Yuet Ling
Phoenix Palace – it was on the special dim sum menu. The steaming process intensifies the wasabi so you get a real kick when you bite into the filling. The skin was green which I guess was to differentiate it from standard har gau !
Off to HK and Guangzhou soon and hopefully I’ll discover some new faves.
Sung – ah, Phoenix Palace, a place I haven’t been to in years, ever since the service and standards both started dropping (it used to be my local when I lived in Marylebone). But the prawn & wasabi dumpling does sound amazing!
Lucky you, going on another trip! Look forward to hearing about any food discoveries (especially dim sum)…
Helen Yuet Ling
oh yum I’m drooling now that im thinking about all my favourite dim sum!! i have always loved the classics – har gau, siu mai. But I do like a bit of char siu – especially in the pastry (car siu sau?) but I will of course settle for a bao! I also love a good xiao long bao (mandarin)/ siu lung bao – but it has to be really full to bursting with hot yummy soup! The best I had was in Shanghai where the bao was as big as a child’s head and I was given a straw! I always, ALWAYS, like to round off a dim sum session with a dan tar or three
However I am completely addicted…unhealthily obssessed….undeniably in-love with…DOU SHA BAO! not really a dim sum I know, but i always ask and if not i grab one/five from the bakeries in C-Town on the way home 
TheLittleWelsh – great to hear your favourites! I don’t think I’ve had a dou sha bao, so I’ll have to look out for them next time in Chinatown…
Helen Yuet Ling