1) Saying thank you
When someone pours you tea, it’s customary to tap the table to say thanks. This comes from a story about an emperor who was traveling incognito with his servant. When they sat down for a meal, the emperor poured tea for his servant, and the servant, humbled and amazed that his lord would do this for him, wanted to bow down and thank the royal for his gesture. However, this would have revealed his master’s identity, so he curled his index and middle finger, to resemble a kneeling person, and tapped the table.
2) Serving the food
As much as I love digging into the food and eating it, food shows love in many ways. I particularly enjoy taking the bigger, juicier pieces of food and placing them on my mom’s plate whenever we eat together. My mom has done, and still does, this for me since I was a kid. She constantly gives me the best pieces of food, so I like to sneak in opportunities to do the same for her.
3) Building relationships
I am a big fan of having important talks over good food. Since we have to take turns chewing, we are forced to listen to the other person. You can’t talk over each other with your mouth full of food! Business negotiations, and family negotiations, can be done over dim sum. Dim sum gives us the chance to serve each other and listen to each other.
4) The dim sum ladies
Sometimes they’re yelling orders and requests across the restaurant, and sometimes they’re chatting with you like you’ve been friends for ages. They are great at giving recommendations, and they don’t take it personally if you don’t want something from their cart.
5) The tea
I just love tea. Tea is wonderful. My mom particularly likes pu’erh tea for dim sum, which has seeded my love for pu’erh as well. A warm cup of tea and tasty food is like a hug for your stomach and soul.
6) Har gow and shumai
Of course, I can’t not talk about the actual dim sum, so I’ll highlight a few of my favorites. “Har gow” is a shrimp dumpling with a pearly rice paper skin often served together with “shumai,” a cylindrical dumpling with pork, shrimp, and mushroom. These were probably the first dim sum plates I’ve ever had.
7) Pei daan sau yuk juk – Pork with preserved duck egg congee
This was and still is my favorite dish. There’s something about a hot bowl of congee on a cold day. One of the restaurants I grew up with started to only serve it during weekends, so we often went to a different restaurant much farther away during the week. That was how much I loved it, and how much my mom loved me.
8) Siu long baau – Soup dumplings
I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I don’t remember having these when I was little. The first time I remember eating one “correctly” was in my early twenties. I recall burning my tongue when I popped the whole thing into my mouth. Broth splattered all over. I learned later that you put it on a spoon, nibble a bit out of the skin so you can drink the broth, and then finish it off with vinegar and ginger. I still burn my tongue, an inevitable consequence of how much I want to get this thing into my belly.
9) Cheung fun – shrimp and thick noodle
Another favorite: A few pieces of shrimp wrapped in a giant rice noodle and cut into sections by the nice dim sum lady, who also drenches it in a sweet soy sauce. I have also tried the beef and bbq pork versions, but shrimp cheung fun has my heart.
10) Taking it home
My mom and I often order a couple extra “dry” dishes that we decide to just take home. Usually it’s cha siu baau (bbq pork buns) and lor maai gai (chicken in sticky rice, wrapped in a lotus leaf). Sometimes also a lo baak gou (turnip cakes). These end up being my lunch the next day. It’s nice to be able to extend the dim sum experience.