My first real post on this blog I will talk about my experience at the Chinese dim sum restaurant that I ate at for lunch today. The whole reason that I have this blog is to help learn more about Chinese food and document my findings. This is not a science blog though. The Chinese Food Blog is allowed to go off topic if necessary but for the most part I will be speaking about my experiences with Chinese food.
So today I went to a Chinese dim sum restaurant. For any of you who don’t know what dim sum is let me give you my American explanation. Dim sum is a type of Chinese restaurant that serves various displays of Chinese food in a cart that they bring to your table. The Chinese dim sum has a large variety of food that you can choose from. This is different than the traditional style that allows you to order off of the Chinese menu. With Dim sum there is no Chinese menu. You will select whatever food that is already prepared and provided as a selection. From my experiences, there are usually no more than 50 different types of Chinese food samples to choose from.
Dim sum food is also different then the food from the Chinese menu in that they usually only serve certain types of Chinese food that would be considered Chinese food appetizers. What I mean is that you won’t usually find a bird’s nest soup or a Chinese pizza at a dim sum. These restaurants have a certain standard of their samples and it usually is this way all across the industry. Most of the dim sums that I have been to usually serve the same Chinese food appetizers on their cart. I am sure that there are probably restaurants that are out there that serve almost anything that is Chinese but I have yet to be at one of them. Not to be mistaken is the fact that if you don’t like something served at the dim sum then you can order off of the menu and get something else to eat. But dim sum itself is usually limited.
So where does dim sum come from? Dim sum is translated as “touch the heart” and is a Chinese tradition of eating a group of light meals usually in the day time. Dim sum Chinese food is served with tea (which has its roots in the Chinese tradition of Yum Cha or to drink tea). Both tea and dim sum light food are equally important in the dim sum tradition.