Dim Sum 101: A First-Timer's Guide To Chinese Brunch
Dim sum is one of the oldest culinary experiences in the world. Today, it’s enjoyed just about everywhere. But with a massive menu that might not be obvious at first glance, dim sum can be intimidating for a first-timer. Host Alex Melki calls in his friend Iggy, a self-proclaimed dim sum expert, to help him navigate a delicious exploration of this popular Chinese appetizer cuisine and offers up this non-exhaustive newbie guide to eating and enjoying it like a seasoned dim sum pro.
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00:00 So this is beef stomach lining?
00:03 Stomach lining, intestines, beef interiors.
00:06 It's not some sort of meat that we built into looking like a chicken foot.
00:09 Hey what's good, Narcity, Alex here.
00:11 I have been dying to try dim sum for a very long time.
00:15 But it's not the kind of dining experience that you can just walk in and have without
00:18 knowing the rules and instructions that come with it beforehand, or at least be aware that
00:23 they exist.
00:24 It is, for a first-time trier, a little bit of an intimidating experience.
00:28 First, some context.
00:30 As far back as 2500 years ago, travelers would stop at tea houses all along the Silk Road,
00:35 which was an ancient trade route that linked the Western world with the Middle East.
00:39 And in these tea houses, you'd be served dim sum, the Cantonese word for appetizer,
00:44 usually dumplings or other small snacks, along with some delicious hot tea.
00:49 Fast forward to today, and dim sum is enjoyed all over the world.
00:52 It's amazing.
00:53 But like I said, for a first-timer, it can be a little overwhelming, a little intense
00:57 depending on the day that you go.
00:59 So to make sure I have a proper dim sum first-time experience, I'm calling in some backup.
01:04 This morning, I'm meeting up with my buddy Iggy, who knows this world inside and out,
01:08 for a hefty dim sum brunch spread.
01:10 He's so passionate about it, he wrote a rap just for the occasion.
01:14 Before you leave your seat, try the chicken feet.
01:16 If you don't find it okay, wash it down with ole.
01:19 Our culinary culture is more than just pork bun.
01:22 Now for the real test.
01:24 This is called a durian.
01:25 So yeah, that's it, man.
01:26 So if today's dim sum is one-tenth as good as that song was?
01:29 It's basically a bunch of sides, and everything that you order, you're supposed to take just
01:34 a little bit of it.
01:36 It's meant to be shared, it's meant to be very family and friend-oriented.
01:41 Nobody really goes dim sum on their own.
01:42 In fact, some of the food items, you cannot order just one piece.
01:46 It all comes in pieces of three or four.
01:48 So typically, you already have all these chairs, but you gotta imagine maybe 30, 40 people
01:54 here waiting, and then look, on this side as well.
01:59 Typically on weekends, this is how many people gotta wait in line to get a spot.
02:03 Right away, I get the vibe Imperial is going for.
02:06 This has been on my radar for a little bit.
02:07 It just opened up in Montreal's West Island.
02:10 It's an old-school spot modernized in such a way that it makes the entire experience
02:14 feel elevated.
02:15 I almost forget we're here to stuff our faces till we burst.
02:18 The system here runs on itemization.
02:20 Every item gets lumped into a price point, and each table is linked to a QR code.
02:25 Salt and pepper shrimp.
02:26 Nah, this is for white people who...
02:29 I mean, that's not too bad.
02:31 How many times do you think you've done dim sum?
02:35 Wow.
02:36 Let's say I'm 35, five times a year.
02:41 That's 150 times, yeah, ish.
02:43 That's wild.
02:44 Like, right now we're taking our sweet ass time.
02:46 But food typically comes out so fast.
02:49 Right.
02:50 You see something you like, you gotta order it now.
02:52 Otherwise you're waiting for the next round, the next circuit.
02:56 Iggy makes the final call on what we absolutely need to try, and just a couple minutes later,
03:00 our food starts rolling out.
03:01 Oh, no more mustard?
03:05 Okay.
03:06 I'll just get whatever's available.
03:09 I'm gonna grab a hakao, like this.
03:20 Hakao.
03:21 Hakao, yeah.
03:22 A little bit of mustard sauce there.
03:25 Yes, yes sir.
03:29 It's like a horseradish.
03:33 Yes.
03:34 The mustard, though.
03:37 You probably dumped too much mustard on it.
03:39 That's good, though.
03:40 I like that.
03:41 Oh, we got more.
03:42 Oh yeah, we got more food.
03:43 What's next?
03:44 Sumai.
03:45 Sumai.
03:46 Sumai, right here.
03:47 So I guess they call it a dumpling, but it's really a beef ball with a little bit of wrap
03:54 around it.
03:56 Mm.
03:57 Mm.
03:58 That's like tender.
04:00 Mm-hmm.
04:01 So soft.
04:02 So good.
04:03 I can't believe I'm eating this.
04:04 So good.
04:05 I can't believe more food just came.
04:08 It's ridiculous.
04:09 It's called a fried taro dumpling.
04:13 Mm.
04:14 It has a consistency of like a pate.
04:18 So it's kind of like a meat pie, almost.
04:21 Yeah?
04:22 Like a bite-sized meat pie.
04:24 Mm-hmm.
04:25 Fried.
04:26 It's called a shrimp rice paste roll.
04:29 And we can dip this in some saya sauce.
04:31 It all sticks to each other.
04:33 Yeah.
04:34 Ish.
04:35 That is so good.
04:37 Mm-hmm.
04:38 It's like a little lemony.
04:42 What's like the name for this type of dish?
04:44 Chow Fun.
04:45 What?
04:46 Chow Fun.
04:47 Chow Fun.
04:48 Yeah.
04:49 Okay.
04:50 Chow Fun.
04:51 Cool.
04:52 And it's basically wrapping some sort of protein inside of the, inside of a rice sheet.
04:55 You gotta call it chow fun.
04:58 Yeah.
04:59 Because.
05:00 Chow Fun.
05:01 Yeah.
05:02 Because chow fun is something else.
05:03 Oh my god, of course it is.
05:04 Chow Fun is actually an insult.
05:05 Oh, is it?
05:06 Yeah.
05:07 What does it mean?
05:08 Ah, like, ****.
05:09 Sort of.
05:10 So we got some cuttlefish here.
05:12 In Chinese, we call this yaoyu.
05:13 Yeah, no, I've never, I've never had cuttlefish.
05:16 Just like that, eh?
05:17 Yeah, just like that.
05:18 Mm.
05:19 Mm.
05:20 Mm.
05:21 With satay sauce.
05:22 That's so good.
05:23 You know what?
05:24 I have had cuttlefish before.
05:25 At a Chinese restaurant from around the corner from my place when I was growing up, and
05:26 I was like, "Oh, I want to try this."
05:27 And they were like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."
05:29 I've had cuttlefish before.
05:30 At a Chinese restaurant from around the corner from my place when I was growing up, but I
05:33 didn't know what it was.
05:34 So this is beef stomach lining?
05:36 Stomach lining, intestines, beef interiors.
05:39 Whoa.
05:40 So basically just their organs, essentially.
05:42 Yeah, the front part.
05:43 Their GI organs.
05:44 Gastrointestinal organs.
05:45 Jeez.
05:46 So this, I believe, is their intestines.
05:49 So we're talking intestines.
05:52 This right here is the liver.
05:55 Can I be honest with you?
05:58 Mm-hmm.
05:59 I feel like it has a...
06:01 What's that?
06:02 There's like a tinny taste to it.
06:04 But I think that if I didn't know that it was the intestines, I feel like I wouldn't mind
06:08 it as much, but it's like a metal block.
06:10 But now you know.
06:11 Now I know, and it's hard to go back.
06:12 It's kind of spongy.
06:15 And I think it kind of...
06:17 Because I've never had it before, it's like, yeah, this is exactly what intestines are
06:20 supposed to taste like.
06:21 I should not have told you what it was.
06:23 I know.
06:24 I should have eaten it first.
06:25 Maybe I tried it, but yeah, definitely not like the first thing I'm going to run to order
06:29 when I do dim sum next time.
06:30 I'm good.
06:31 All right.
06:32 That's wild, though.
06:33 Piece de resistance.
06:34 You know what?
06:35 It's weird.
06:36 The flavor is kind of lingering in the back of my mouth, and I kind of like the flavor.
06:39 I think it's just the chewiness of it.
06:41 I wasn't prepared for it.
06:42 So this is your typical chicken feet.
06:45 Some people are wondering, like, where is chicken feet?
06:48 It's exactly what it is.
06:49 It's not an insinuation.
06:50 It's not a nickname?
06:51 It's not a nickname.
06:52 It's not like it's not some sort of meat that we built into looking like a chicken foot.
06:57 I think there's there's this weird mental barrier of like, don't think about it.
07:01 Don't think about it.
07:02 Don't think about it.
07:03 That once you get past that, this is delicious.
07:07 Let's open this up.
07:08 Yeah, let's do that.
07:10 Sticky rice lotus leaf.
07:13 Unravel it like a lotus leaf like this.
07:17 Sticky rice.
07:18 It looks kind of messy.
07:20 But inside the sticky rice, there's beef, there's pork, there's sausages.
07:25 That smells so good.
07:28 This little guy is called lap cheong.
07:30 I think I think in English, it's just Chinese sausage.
07:37 I know some of these flavors, but honestly, there's like a depth here that you just don't get in a lot of other cuisines.
07:44 This is congee.
07:46 So this is not exactly a soup.
07:49 I guess the best way to put it is a porridge.
07:52 So this also has a egg, which is I think it translates to a thousand year egg or something like that.
07:57 It's just so good.
07:59 It's funny because this reminds me so much of a soup my Greek grandmother makes.
08:05 No way.
08:06 I swear to God.
08:07 So maybe Greeks and Chinese people have a lot more in common.
08:09 You know what?
08:12 Yo, this is delicious.
08:14 So this is a tofu dessert.
08:17 In Cantonese, it is called tofu.
08:20 It comes with a little side of ginger sauce or ginger syrup.
08:25 Honestly, you were hyping this up and I wasn't 100 percent sure.
08:28 This is this is legit.
08:29 And it's light.
08:31 All right. Looks like we have a lot of leftovers.
08:32 Time to pack this up.
08:35 Thank you.
08:39 So what advice do you have for somebody who's like maybe never done this before or has always wanted to?
08:45 Where do you start?
08:46 What do they do?
08:48 I would suggest, first of all, keep an open mind.
08:51 All the foods that you're eating that you're going to try.
08:54 Come with somebody who knows what they're doing.
08:56 Otherwise, just go crazy at it on the menu.
08:59 Look, you can even leave with all these doggy bags and you got enough for supper.
09:05 And some. Check it out.
09:06 For Narcity, I'm Alex Melke.
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