Ping Seafood Restaurant in NYC:
Why I thought it would be gross: Asian food has a way of sneaking in random animals, bizarre vegetables, and fish when I least expect it, and so I’m pretty scared of having a dozen little pouches full of surprises on my table. On the other hand, I like Chinese food, so maybe it’ll be okay.
Ingredients: Vegetables like cucumber, carrots, snow peas, celery, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms. Spices like oyster sauce, soy sauce, peanut oil, sugar, and salt. Limited dairy other than pudding at dessert. Meat like sweet pork, beef, chicken, and various forms of fish and assorted body parts (chicken feet, tripe – cleaned intestine, which I’ve eaten twice now!). Also, doughs are used like dumpling wrappers, rice paper, and phyllo-style wrappers. Various teas also are served.
Character: According to Wikipedia, dim sum is Cantonese for “snack”. However, dim sum more typically refers to a style of Chinese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food, traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. So, you’ll see lots of little pouches and portions of food – either steamed or fried or baked. Similar foods include egg rolls, hot pockets, meatballs, and filled pastries.
What I thought: I tried Dim Sum at Ping Seafood Restaurant in New York City. My guide was a travel mate with a wealth of experience in global cuisine who has yet to fail me on bringing me to great food. And I was very clear from the get-go what would and wouldn’t fly with me. I’m still evolving in my tastes, and I’m a ways off from chicken feet or bird embryos. So, with the ground rules set, I was ready to explore.
At this restaurant, cooked and ready-to-serve dim sum dishes are pushed around on steam carts by servers who go around the restaurant offering the dishes to customers and marking orders on a card on each customer’s table. So, there’s a lot to choose from. There also is a menu so that you can choose specific things if you’re so inclined.
My favorite thing I ate (and have eaten before with great hesitancy at first) is called a bau or bao (pronounced “bow”). These are baked or steamed buns made from wheat flour and filled with food items ranging from meat to vegetables to sweet bean pastes. My favorite kind of bao is a steamed bun (kind of the consistency of raw bread dough, but it’s cooked) filled with sweet pork, which is shredded pork covered in a sweet barbeque sauce. These are like heaven and are not to be missed. Similarly, I tried a baked version with the same sweet pork inside, and it was also delicious. (They’re the white pouches pictured below.)
I also ate a few different kinds of dumplings, some with mushrooms, or vegetables, or pork. Dumplings have an interesting texture, as the wrapper is steamed, which gives it a kind of sticky, boiled lasagna noodle kind of texture. I dip them in soy sauce to add a little salt to the flavor, and they can be really good.
Another steamed item I like is the steamed meatball. They look and taste just like a normal meatball, but it is steamed instead of baked or fried, so it has a slightly springier texture. These are also good with different sauces (like duck sauce or soy sauce).
After several rounds of hot dishes, we ordered several dessert dishes. My two favorites were the mango pudding (pudding that was flavored with mango, as you might expect) and a baked dumpling filled with pineapple filling. This was sweet and baked like a donut and was fantastic.
I also had a lemon custard tart, and a taro root dumpling. We also enjoyed tasty tea throughout the meal, which helps with digestion so you can keep trying everything! (Lots of desserts pictured below.)
Overall, I enjoyed 90% of everything that came to the table. I would love to learn how to make baos at home, because they’re so delicious. I would definitely go to a Dim Sum brunch again now that I know what some of the things are and what I really like.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dim_sum This might be kind of obvious, but there is a really good list of the kinds of foods you may find. I pulled from this site for a few of the explanations in this post.
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/dining/dim-sum-guide.html A site for learning more about Dim Sum, with a printable guide so you can make informed decisions before you head to brunch.
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