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.
00:06It's not some sort of meat that we built into looking like a chicken foot.
00:10Hey, what's good in our city? Alex here, and I have been dying to try dim sum for a very long time.
00:15But it's not the kind of dining experience that you can just walk in and have without knowing the rules and instructions that come with it beforehand,
00:22or at least be aware that they exist.
00:24It is, for a first-time tryer, a little bit of an intimidating experience.
00:28First, some context.
00:30As far back as 2,500 years ago, travelers would stop at teahouses all along the Silk Road,
00:35which was an ancient trade route that linked the Western world with the Middle East.
00:39And in these teahouses, you'd be served dim sum, the Cantonese word for appetizer,
00:44usually dumplings or other small snacks, along with some delicious hot tea.
00:49Fast forward to today, and dim sum is enjoyed all over the world. It's amazing.
00:53But like I said, for a first-timer, it can be a little overwhelming, a little intense, depending on the day that you go.
00:58So to make sure I have a proper dim sum first-time experience, I'm calling in some backup.
01:03This morning, I'm meeting up with my buddy Iggy, who knows this world inside and out, for a hefty dim sum brunch spread.
01:10He's so passionate about it, he wrote a rap just for the occasion.
01:13Before you leave your seat, try the chicken feet. If you don't find it okay, wash it down with baule.
01:19Our culinary culture is more than just pork bun. Now for the real test, this is called a durian.
01:26So yeah, that's it, man.
01:26Today's dim sum is one-tenth as good as that song was?
01:29It's basically a bunch of sides, and everything that you order, you're supposed to take just a little bit of it.
01:35Okay.
01:36It's meant to be shared, it's meant to be very family and friend-oriented.
01:40Nobody really goes dim sum on their own. In fact, some of the food items, you cannot order just one piece.
01:45Oh really, eh?
01:46It all comes in pieces of three or four.
01:48So typically, see, you already have all these chairs, but you gotta imagine, like, maybe 30, 40 people here, just waiting, and then look, on this side as well, this is like the second line.
01:58Typically, on weekends, this is how many people gotta wait in line to get a spot.
02:03Right away, I get the vibe Imperial is going for. This has been on my radar for a little bit. It just opened up in Montreal's West Island.
02:09It's an old-school spot modernized in such a way that it makes the entire experience feel elevated.
02:15I almost forget we're here to stuff our faces till we burst.
02:18The system here runs on itemization.
02:19Every item gets lumped into a price point, and each table is linked to a QR code.
02:24Uh, salt and pepper, shrimp, snot, white people do.
02:31How many, uh, how many times do you think you've done dim sum?
02:35Wow, uh, let's say I'm 35, five times a year, so that's 150 times, yeah, ish.
02:43That's wild.
02:44Like, right now we're taking our sweet ass time, but food typically comes out so fast.
02:49Right.
02:50Because you see something you like, you gotta order it now.
02:52Like, otherwise you're waiting for the next round, the next circuit.
02:55Iggy makes the final call on what we absolutely need to try,
02:58and just a couple minutes later, our food starts rolling out.
03:01We're gonna grab a hot cow like this.
03:19Hot cow.
03:19Hot cow, yeah.
03:21A little bit of mustard sauce there.
03:24Yes, yes sir.
03:32It's like a, it's like a horseradish.
03:34Yes.
03:37The mustard though.
03:37Yeah.
03:38You probably dumped too much mustard on it.
03:39That's good though.
03:41I like that.
03:41Oh, we got more.
03:42The shrimp dumpling?
03:43Oh yeah, we got more food.
03:44What's next?
03:45Siumai.
03:45Siumai.
03:46Siumai.
03:46Siumai, right here.
03:50So I guess they call it a dumpling, but it's really a beef ball with a little bit of wrap around it.
04:02That's like tender.
04:02Mm-hmm.
04:03So soft.
04:04So good.
04:06I can't believe more food just came.
04:09That's ridiculous.
04:10It's called a fried taro dumpling.
04:16It has a consistency of like a pate.
04:18So it's kind of like a, like a meat pie almost.
04:21Yeah.
04:21Five.
04:22Like a bite-sized meat pie.
04:25Fried.
04:26It's called a shrimp rice paste roll.
04:29And we can dip this in some sayasau.
04:32It all sticks to each other.
04:33Yeah.
04:33Ish.
04:36That is so good.
04:40It's like a little lemony.
04:42What's like the name for this type of dish?
04:45What?
04:46Cheong-fun.
04:46Cheong-fun.
04:47Yeah, okay.
04:47Cheong-fun.
04:48Cool.
04:49And it's basically wrapping some sort of protein inside of the...
04:53Inside of a rice...
04:55Cheat.
04:56You gotta call it, uh, cheong-fun.
04:58Yeah.
04:59Cheong-fun.
05:00Cheong-fun.
05:00Yeah, cheong-fun.
05:01Cheong-fun.
05:02Because, because,
05:02Fun-chang is something else.
05:04Oh my god, of course it is.
05:05Fun-chang is actually an insult.
05:06Oh, is it?
05:06Yeah.
05:07What does it mean?
05:07I don't like f**k.
05:09There's a sort of...
05:10So we got some cuttlefish here.
05:12In Chinese, we call this yao yu.
05:14Yeah, no, I've never...
05:15I've never had cuttlefish.
05:16Just like that, eh?
05:16Yeah, just like that.
05:17Mmm.
05:19Mmm.
05:22Mmm.
05:24What's that taste of?
05:25That's so good.
05:26You know what?
05:27I have had cuttlefish before.
05:29At a Chinese restaurant from around the corner from my place when I was growing up.
05:32But I didn't know what it was.
05:34So this is beef stomach lining?
05:36Stomach lining, intestines, beef interiors.
05:40So basically just their organs, essentially.
05:42Yeah, the fun part.
05:43They're GI organs.
05:44Gastrointestinal organs.
05:46Jeez.
05:47So this, I believe, is their intestines.
05:51So we're talking intestines.
05:53This right here is the liver.
05:57Can I be honest with you?
05:57Mm-hmm.
05:59I feel like it has a...
06:01What's that?
06:02There's like a tinny taste to it.
06:04But I think that if I didn't know that it was the intestines, I feel like I wouldn't mind it as much.
06:09But it's like a mental block.
06:10But now you know.
06:10Now I know it.
06:11It's hard to go back.
06:13It's kind of spongy.
06:15And I think it kind of...
06:17Because I've never had it before.
06:18It's like, yeah, this is exactly what intestines supposed to taste like.
06:22I shouldn't have told you what it was.
06:23I know.
06:23You should have just eaten it first.
06:25Maybe I tried it, but yeah.
06:27Definitely not like the first time I'm going to run to order when I do some next time.
06:30That's good.
06:31All right.
06:31That's wild though.
06:34You know what?
06:35It's weird.
06:35The flavor is kind of lingering in the back of my mouth.
06:37And I kind of like the flavor.
06:39I think it's just the chewiness of it I wasn't prepared for.
06:42So this is your typical chicken feet.
06:45And people are wondering like, where is chicken feet?
06:48It's exactly what it is.
06:49It's not an insinuation.
06:50It's not a nickname.
06:51It's not a nickname.
06:52It's not like, it's not some sort of meat that we built into looking like a chicken foot.
06:58I think there's this weird mental barrier of like, don't think about it.
07:01Don't think about it.
07:02Don't think about it.
07:03That once you get past that, this is delicious.
07:08Let's open this up.
07:09Yeah, let's do that.
07:09So this is sticky rice.
07:11I'm going to...
07:12And lotus leaf.
07:13I'm going to unravel it.
07:15It's like a lotus leaf like this.
07:17Sticky rice.
07:18It looks kind of messy.
07:20But inside the sticky rice, there's beef.
07:22There's pork.
07:23There's sausages.
07:25That smells so good.
07:28This little guy, it's called Lap Chaung.
07:30I think in English, it's just Chinese sausage.
07:34I know some of these flavors.
07:39But honestly, there's like a depth here that you just don't get in a lot of other cuisines.
07:44So this is congee, heartwarming food.
07:47So this is not exactly a soup.
07:48Okay.
07:49This is, I guess the best way to put it is a porridge.
07:52So this also has peidan, which is, I think it translates to a thousand year egg or something like that.
07:58This is so good.
07:59It's funny because this reminds me so much of a soup my Greek grandmother makes.
08:06No way.
08:06I swear to God.
08:07So maybe Greeks and Chinese people have a lot more in common.
08:09You know what?
08:13Yo, this is delicious.
08:15So this is a tofu dessert.
08:17In Cantonese, it is called Daofufa.
08:20Right?
08:20And it comes with a little side of ginger sauce or ginger syrup, rather.
08:24Honestly, you were hyping this up and I wasn't 100% sure.
08:28This is, this is legit.
08:29And it's light.
08:31All right.
08:31Looks like we have a lot of leftovers.
08:33Time to pack this up.
08:39So what advice do you have for somebody who's like maybe never done this before
08:43or has always wanted to?
08:45Where do you start?
08:46What do they, what do they do?
08:48I would suggest, first of all, keep an open mind.
08:51All the foods that you're, you're eating, that you're going to try.
08:55Come with somebody who knows what they're doing.
08:57Otherwise, just go crazy at it on the menu.
08:59Look, you can even leave with all these doggy bags and you got enough for supper.
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