Gimme Some Dim Sum!

Don’t we all love small bites?

I knew my first Dim Sum experience would be awesome because I love appetizers and finger foods. They make me feel as though I’m not eating a lot when in reality, I probably end up eating more than a regular meal.

But I digress.

Dim Sum is a Chinese cuisine where foods are prepared in small bite-sized portions. They generally consist of fried dumplings, steamed buns, rice rolls and sesame balls, each containing a filling, which can range from meat and veggies to sweet cream and fruit sauce. There are also cakes, puddings and tea to complement the Dim Sum Experience.

In Los Angeles, there are plenty of Chinese Restaurants that offer Dim Sum. However, it had never really appealed to me. I probably never gave it enough attention and always associated it with pork dumplings which I’m not too crazy about.

But over the summer, I visited Hong Kong with my little sister.

There was no avoiding it. If I was ever thinking of giving Dim Sum a try, then I’d better do it in China, the very country that invented it.

We went to Yum Cha (which stands for “Drink Tea” in Cantonese). It’s a fabulously chic and modern Dim Sum café known for its playful, cartoon-themed take on Dim Sum. I wanted to order everything from the menu but opted for only a few items and here’s a little about the experience:

The set-up was beautiful—

Neutral-toned decor with pastel colored china. Everything about the place was gorgeous. No wonder it’s one of the most instagrammed cafés in Hong Kong! The Dim Sum arrives in individual steamer baskets and small plates.

The BBQ Pork Buns

were delicious.

These are steamed buns (decorated to look like Piggies) filled with BBQ Pork. It tasted really good.

Dim Sum is not to be eaten, say, like sushi.

You don’t necessarily stick an entire food portion in your mouth at once. Taking small bites and savoring each dish is particularly fun and oftentimes encouraged.

The BBQ Pork Buns were almost too cute to eat though.

I felt like one of the buns was going to start squealing before I ate it. And, I must add, the buns are actually quite filling. I ate one and-a-half which was perfect to make room for tea and dessert.

The Hot Custard Buns

had a sweet mango custard filling.

They were heavenly. But it soon became apparent that we had ordered items to appease our sweet tooth rather than to fuel our long hike so we didn’t finish all of them, especially since we were still waiting on drum roll please…..

The Coconut Red Bean Cup and Cotton Cloud!

This was the dessert that gave us the ultimate sugar rush. Still, we carried on, eating a good portion of the red bean and coconut pudding (which you can hardly see because the cotton candy cloud is so large)… Yum!

So there you have it friends! My first Dim Sum in experience in Hong Kong, was delicious.

Stay tuned for more random posts of my summer Asia adventures!

Thanks for reading,

Xo,

-Anabel M.