by Lori Baltazar
Tell me and tell me where you eat them; even post a photo if you care to.
For the past week or so, I’ve been dreaming in dimsum: little dishes, big “heart warmers.” Of the countless types available, I have many favorites but in keeping with the spirit of M.I.Y.O. Monday, here’s the dimsum duo I desire.
The first are the sweet potato pastries that Edsa Shangri-La’s Summer Palace does so well. Converging crusts, flaky and light, protect a paste of mashed sweet potato. When cracked (or bitten into) wafts of heat and sweet escape and lift the spirit. I have to wrench myself in mid-reverie to flick away the errant crumbs that dot my dress.
I maintain that no dimsum meal is complete unless it ends with an egg tart. Much to my despair, they are a dying breed in Manila. But really now, who won’t weaken in the wake of a crust that crumbles and a custard that caresses the tongue? It will be a sad day in Manila when egg tarts become extinct. For now, I haven’t found an egg tart in Manila — THE ONE that lifts me to egg tart heaven but the ones at Ying Ying Tea House in Binondo, Manila come very close.
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my top 2 favorite dimsum dishes are:
1. Baked Asado Buns from Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong! I am not much of a siopao fan, but this one is really awesome! It’s like eating milk bread with asado! Yummy!
pic here: https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/188906_10150097939332405_594312404_6184388_7014490_n.jpg
2. Pan Fried Xiao Long Bao from SuZhou
Altho the skin is quite thick, the taste of the soup makes up for it!
radish puff at crystal jade. prawn cheung fan at david’s or gloriamaris 🙂
Curry Beef Balls at Wai Ying :9 yum yum yum yum yum.
Hi Lori, living in HK gives me access to the best dimsum in the world. I have to say choosing only 2 is mighty difficult, but here goes:
1. minced shrimp and scallop spring roll – it’s not common, and few restaurants have it, but it is sublime. It tastes better than all the other spring rolls (vegetables, chicken, mushroom) the Cantonese do so well. The skin is a perfect light golden brown with no burnt edges, the filling smoking hot, and, when dipped in the ubiquitous vinegar, it’s a taste sensation you cannot get enough of.
2. ham siu gok http://www.flickr.com/photos/aptronym/2395821806/, fried taro dumpling with its ticklish crispy coating and sticky rice with Chinese sausage are all tied at number 2.
Raddish cake and hakao for me! 😀
No question about it:
1. Shrimp and Vegetable Dumpling, and
2. Chicken Feet.
Both from Choi Garden Seafood and Shark’s Fin. 🙂
I could LIVE in that restaurant. Just that good. 🙂
Lori, I find that with dimsum, the simpler, the better. Two current favorites of mine are Shrimp Hakaw and Spinach Dumpling at that still secret of a jewel of a Chinese Restaurant in Manila Hotel – Mabuhay Palace. 🙂
1. Xiao long bao from Suzhou
2. Taro Puff from Luk Yuen
But really, I rarely come across dimsum that I don’t like. I love Chinese food! 🙂
Siopao and hakaw, for the knock out!!
1. Xiao Long Bao – have not found the perfect one yet. Flavorful pork and shrimp suspended in hot soup and encased in an al dente pouch. but so far, Lugang is the best among what I’ve tried.
2. Red Bean Dumpling from Shi Lin, Podium. Oh just divine I tell you! The perfect ending to a Shi Lin meal 🙂 I could eat 10 or more of those…drool!
My favorites are:
Spring Rolls from Harbour City Cebu:
http://tableforthreeplease.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/cebu3.jpg
Baked BBQ Pork Bun from Tim Ho Wan in Kowloon:
http://tableforthreeplease.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/mich.jpg
1. Xiao Long Bao from Crystal Jade
2. Hakaw from some small restaurant in HK (name I can’t remember)
My favorite dimsums are chicken feet in tausi sauce, hakaw and radish cake. If those three aren’t good, I don’t like going back to the restaurant. 😀
Oh, and the shrimp siomai (that’s like xiao long bao!) in Shi Lin. 🙂
uh….where did my earlier comment go!?
My favorite dimsums (that I tend to use as my guage on werther i like the restaurant or not) are radish cake, hakaw and chicken feet in tausi.
Xiao long bao and taro puff…have yet to find my faves. My only problem with taro puffs is they are quite filling and I have no one to share with as my cousin who also likes taro puffs lives in another country!
We need to get together soon then!
Oh wait…I think Katrina like taro puffs too, must call her…
Xiao long bao—nothing beats the first one i ever had in shanghai. 🙂
Har gau/hakaw would be a close second..and of course, egg tarts. 🙂
My favorite 2 most favorite dimsum dishes are
– Har Gao (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48121696@N07/4901673726/) – so far the best I’ve had in Manila are from Shang Palace
– Taro Puff (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48121696@N07/4901677478/) -also from Shang Palace. It’s a thing of beauty, as you crack open the crispy outer layer and taste the mashed taro mixed with seafood, the wonders never cease as you get a surprise piece of scallop at the bottom.
i have been known to melt before good hakaw.
I also like the veg siopao Gloria maris used to serve (choi garden still serves it)
😀
A good beancurd skin spring roll FTW!
hakaw from XO Kitchen along Jupiter
The siomai served at the Satellite cafeteria of the Ateneo High School. The chili garlic sauce which comes with it.
The siomai served at the Satellite cafeteria of the Ateneo High School. The chili garlic sauce which comes with it is pretty good too.
Choosing two is difficult. I like dumplings/siomai/wontons in general, and anytime I go for dimsum, there’s no messing around with ordering those. But my must order has to be turnip cakes, and a plate of cheung fan (preferably with shrimps/prawns in them). If they turn out too starchy or lacking a certain tantalizing flavor then I don’t go back.
If you go to Stanley in HK, go look for the small dimsum restaurant down the side street, they do a nice chunky turnip cake with XO sauce.
I know the list says two, but a plate of roast pork (siu rou) is always on my checklist.
hakaw. plump whole shrimps. yum.
love the dim sum stall in salcedo market
Mine would be something wrapped in a beancurd skin roll – usually some chicken and a bit of Chinese sausage. That’s one.
Plump shrimp har gow is the other, glistening with bits of melted pork fat in side the wrapper.
Hi Lori, if you’re in Binondo, Golden Fortune on Soler has some “happy hours” hehehe, 2:30-5:30 PM you can order the dimsum and congee at a lower price. Parang 40-ish for the dimsum instead of P65 and P60-ish for the congee instead of P100. I like the sharksfin siomai there. I like the dipping sauce that they make themselves (it’s like a sweetish kind of soy. Don’t order the chicken feet there though, medyo starchy yung dating. For good chicken feet, walk over to Wai Ying or Ying Ying.
BTW, the best buchi used to be in Eva’s Garden in Adriatico. It had a flaky crust instead of the rolled glutinous orb, topped with sesame seeds, always served warm. Good childhood memories!
shrimp and raddish dumplings in mien san! or the deep fried dumplings 7 pcs (seriously, thats what it’s called) in wai ying. north park also has this new thing on the menu, like an asado bun, but the mantou is fried. oh lordy.
My top two dimsum would be Shrimp cheong fan & bitso bitso Cheong Fan. The thinner the cheong fan the better and the yummy sauce that seems to be so limited. Hope it would be ok to post some of the finds in terms of recipe for this cheong fun in my kitchen snippets site. http://www.mykitchensnippets.com/2010/08/homemade-steamed-rice-rolls-chee-cheong.html
Xiao Long Bao – Ding Tai Fung (Taiwan/HK/Singapore)
Egg Tart – Macau Restaurant in Kowloon, HK
Choosing 2 is SO HARD.
1) cha siu sou, which is baked asado pastry. this is one of the first things i order in hong kong. i don’t know why it’s not so very available locally.
2) taro cake, which i’ve never seen locally, and also very seldom see in hong kong. it’s basically like radish cake, but made of taro. so. good. and it’s savory. chao inn in hong kong used to have this, and now i’ve gone back several times but they don’t seem to have it anymore. sadness.
locally naman…
1) steamed spare ribs. there is nothing like this oily deliciousness over steamed white rice.
2) bicho-bicho wrapped in rice rolls. with that light, sweetish soy sauce. so simple, but the contrast of flavors is divine.
Tao Yuen’s mini asado tart!! The best! Located in malate 🙂
