I love bringing a diverse group of friends together like my uninitiated co-workers, especially the folks who have not ventured or are familiar with the concept to a traditional dim sum restaurant. In Cantonese, we call it “yum cha” which literally means drink tea. The experience usually consists of ordering a tea to pair with small plates for breakfast or lunch. I usually order “shou mei” if it’s available or on the regular would normally be “bo lei” which is “pu’erh” tea. I especially love sharing the immersive experience of walking into a busy, bustling dim sum hall filled with large round tables with lazy susans, dim sum carts navigating through the crowded tables, and staff yelling out the names of the dishes. I hear the echoing sounds of “ha gow”, “siu mai”, and “fun gor.” I make a mental note of which carts to target once we get seated. It is a very stimulating and engaging experience. I love extending this invitation and witnessing a sense of overwhelming sensation appear across people’s faces and yet feel the excitability of what’s to come. I tend to be the one who will order in Cantonese and navigate the different dishes being called out to me by the servers while translating and brokering what dishes we should keep and what to reject and not succumb to the server’s gifted salesmanship. The servers pushing the dim sum carts do aim to reach their 100% sell-through rate by dropping plates of tempting scrumptious morsels but sometimes it includes dishes that the regular dim sum goer wouldn’t normally order like roasted meats that are usually more expensive. If I’m dining with the Chinese elders like my parents, I usually hand that task over to them as they are pros to the game, the sales pitches tend to fail and are met with poker faces.
Despite the nuanced art of filling the table with a diverse spread, it is a fun encounter to share this experience and see that it is a worthwhile endeavor. In return, you get an array of colorful dumplings, rice noodle dishes, steamed veggies, and sweet egg tarts spread across the table. My typical table spread would consist of “fun gor,” a chubby dumpling filled with jicama, pork, dried shrimp, and peanuts. Also, I’ll order shrimp dumplings, fried taro pastry, sesame balls, BBQ pork rice noodles, and a pineapple bun with an oozing sweet cream yolk. Sometimes I’ll add a wild card to the mix and order a special they are piloting like a fried purple yam sesame ball that was delicious from Excellent Cuisine. Folks can pick up a few essential Cantonese phrases along the way too and help spread the joy by evangelizing the wonders of a dim sum experience. For your next adventure, I recommend going early like when the dim sum place opens to avoid the crowd and long wait times. If you are in the Portland, Oregon area, you can try out Excellent Cuisine. If you happened to be in San Francisco, you can try out an innovative take on dim sum at Beaux Dragon. Also, one of my favorite destination travel spots for dim sum is Vancouver BC, my go-to is Kirin and Chef Tony’s which I highly recommend making reservations. Cheers to “yum cha.”
Travelogue 