GOASIAPLUS November 2018

THE FACE OFF
FACE OFF:
DIM SUM VS TAPAS
EVERYONE ENJOY THE OCCASIONAL SMALL BITES. IN THE EAST, WE ARE ALL
FAMILIAR WITH THE DELICIOUS FARE OF DIM SUM. WHEREAS IN THE WEST,
THEY HAVE TAPAS. BOTH ARE ESSENTIALLY SMALL PLATES OF FOOD STEEPED
DEEP IN THEIR RESPECTIVE CULTURAL ORIGINS AND OCCASIONALLY,
FUSIONED. LET’S SEE HOW THE LITTLE BITES DIFFERS FROM EAST TO WEST.
DIM SUM
Text MICHELLE LIM • Photos GETTY IMAGES & ADOBE STOCK
ORIGINS
Dim sum has a 2,500 year old origin.
From being an exclusive luxury food
to the Emperor of China to later being
served in teahouses along Silk Road,
dim sum as we know today is the typical
‘Chinese brunch’. The word dim sum
means ‘touch the heart’ in Chinese. The
small portions were designed to merely
touch the heart, not sate the appetite –
which is why dim sum is taken as a snack
in olden days, not a meal. Times have
changed and now there are usually over
50 varieties of dishes you can choose
to order from an extensive menu. Each
plate of food is traditionally served in
a steamer basket of bamboo material,
usually with three of a dish arranged
neatly in a circle. It has been inextricably
linked with yum cha–the act of drinking
tea–so much so that tea is a main
complement to a dim sum meal.
INGREDIENTS
The most common ingredients used
in every dim sum outlet are pork and
prawns. Most of these delicious bits of
meat are neatly ensconced in a semitranslucent
wheat starch skin. They
are expertly pleated and wrapped into
delectable, bite-sized pieces–giving you
popular menu items such as har gou and
siu mai. Other popular food items are
braised chicken feet, fried yam balls, char
siew pao, golden (yolk) custard buns,
congee, lo mai kai (steamed glutinous
rice) and not forgetting the super
popular egg tarts to end the meal with.
POPULARITY
Dim sum is easily found in almost
every country in South East Asia,
predominantly in Hong Kong where the
‘best dim sum eateries in the world’ hail
from. However, it has definitely gained
popularity in the West in recent years,
where dim sum is served in almost every
Chinese restaurant. It is so popular that
even ‘halal’ or pork-free versions of dim
sum are being introduced to Muslim
dominant countries. The dish has also
been experimented with fusion cooking
(much to the horror of the Chinese)
to include Western touches that would
appeal to their own local tastes.
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