It’s important to note that there are multiple carts with different items being carried, so if I ask for a specific item (i.e. When the pushcarts come to our table, I get to point and tell the pushcart worker my desired dish, and once they add it onto our table, they’ll mark our table check with a stamp or pen to indicate the price point of the item and move to another table. One of my favorite parts about most dim sum restaurants is the pushcarts! I’m a big “see food” eater and I love getting a menu in the form of delectable treats right in my face. To learn more about tea, visit my post on green tea vs.

My mom would always do the same, seemingly alleviating her guilt of eating dim sum by having some tea afterward. I like drinking tea with dim sum because the hot steamy tea helps wash down some of the greasy dishes. When pouring cups of tea, there is proper etiquette to follow: the youngest fills the cup of everyone at the table before their own, and it goes from oldest to youngest. Some of the best teas you can drink at dim sum are black, jasmine, chrysanthemum, and oolong teas. Dim sum has a big significance and history in tea houses. Tea is paired with dim sum for good reason. Dim sum hours typically range from morning until mid-afternoon, although I prefer going as early as possible to make sure they don’t run out of my favorite dishes! Ordering guide: How does dim sum work? Start with the tea My favorite local places to order dim sum locally in Southern California are Capital Seafood, China Garden, and Seafood Cove. Obviously, there are a lot more types, but these are my general distinctions. And in both of these categories, there are further distinctions: steamed, stir-fried, deep-fried, and baked. I like to break down dim sum into two main types: savory and sweet. While you could find street vendors selling dim sum, you could also find tea houses serving various dishes for patrons to enjoy alongside steaming hot pots of tea. If you’ve ever wondered why tea is always served with dim sum, it’s because it actually reflects the tradition of serving delectable snacks with tea in Chinese history. The word dim sum translates to “touching heart” (referring to the snacks served) and is often associated with the term “yum cha” meaning to enjoy a brunch of eating dim sum and drinking tea. 5 Deep fried & stir-fried dim sum dishesĭim sum has been around since the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE) in China and it’s most associated with regions of Guanzhong and Hong Kong.3 The best & most popular dim sum menu items.2 Ordering guide: How does dim sum work?.

Bao dim sum menu