First, I would like to wish a Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year to all! I hope that the year of the dragon is a great one for all of us (take a look at your 2012 dragonpredictions).
I had a buddy from Vancouver, British Columbia in town last weekend. His parents are from the Canton province of China. He’s a fluent Cantonese speaker and was up for some dim sum on a cold, snowy Saturday morning in Gotham.
My understanding is that dim sum is “Chinese brunch.” You order many of the small dishes so that every member of the group may have a sample. Drinking tea is also essential to the experience. Dim sum is typically enjoyed with a large group of friends or family.
One can easily find dim sum in three neighborhoods in NYC: Flushing, Queens, Bayridge, Brooklyn, or Chinatown, Manhattan. The first two are in Mandarin speaking neighborhoods. While I have had dim sum in Flushing, I am a real crank for dim sum with the Cantonese in Manhattan. The Mandarin speakers are just too polite. They will even explain to you in English what the dishes are if need be.
Cantonese dim sum is more than just tasty steamed buns and dumplings. The Cantonese version is an experience. The Cantonese in Chinatown are not congenial, do not provide good service; in fact, they are just downright rude.
Normally, when I have dim sum in Chinatown, I am accompanied by a large group of Asians. There are usually Laotians, throw in a random Japanese-Hawaiian, a Chinese-Singaporean, a Filipino (A Bisaya speaker to be exact), and a Taiwanese Brazilian. Add this up and what do you have? Enough Asian faces that don’t speak a word of Cantonese and guarantees that you’ll be seating at dim sum waiting for a glass of water for a half an hour.
The key to avoiding all of this is to: BYOCS: bring your own Cantonese speaker. With a Cantonese speaker, you are in the club. You receive your food quickly. The servers smile and tell jokes—of course, in Cantonese. You can even tell the staff that the food isn’t fresh enough and you want your dishes freshly prepared! All of this while the non-Cantonese speakers seated across from you are still struggling to get the attention of the lady pushing the dim sum cart.
My favorite dim sum place in Chinatown, Manhattan is Oriental Gardens located right in the heart of traditional Chinatown—not the Chinatown that has encroached upon Little Italy or the Lower East Side. With women pushing carts of dim sum and yelling out the dishes available on the cart, the place retains its Hong Kong like feel. Couple all of this with an extremely rude staff that is ready to shun your order in English and you have a great Cantonese dim sum experience. Suggestion: BYOCS.
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| Cart filled with dim sum. |
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| Many thanks to Phil Lim, my Cantonese speaker for the day! |
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| One of my favorites: baked cha siu bao. The roasted pork inside is deliciously. |
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| The baked bun must be accompanied by the steamed one. |
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| Lo mai gai (the lotus leaf wrap) is typically wrapped in a banana leaf when served in North America. |
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| Unwrap the leaves and look what you have: sticky rice loaded with pork, shrimp, and chicken! |
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| Turnip cake with shrimp and soy sauce. Hot mustard as seen on the right can be added (I'll abstain). |
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| Bolay tea is a must. |
There are so many more dishes to enjoy at dim sim such as chicken feet or the Shanghai bun. Take a look at the menu for more.
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