Dim Sum in NYC’s Chinatown

MY FASCINATION for Chinese food never wanes. And because the Chinese people are a very diverse group, one can find Chinatowns in major cities of the world.

New York City’s Chinatown is the oldest and largest ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia. The famous Canal Street is the spine of Chinatown in lower Manhattan with the Ground Zero close by. A major thoroughfare, Canal Street is a reference point for famous upscale areas like Tribeca (Triangle Below Canal) and Soho. In Canal Street, one is transported to a bustling stretch of commercial buildings, open storefronts and street vendors where there is a proliferation of everything including “fake goods” just like in Hong Kong. Rule of the thumb is never purchase without haggling. The Chinese vendors are just as rude, too.

A side street, Mott has green grocers and fishmongers where I love to explore for fresh ingredients to cook Filipino food for my daughter Patricia and her kids Silvian and Sabrina. One can buy green long beans (sitaw), bitter melon (ampalaya), our native “pechay” and some other vegetables that are not available in American supermarkets.

The array of fresh seafood is eye-popping! We schedule our trips to Chinatown on weekends since the day is spent food shopping and treating ourselves to a Cantonese dinner.

Chinese cuisine naturally is a major attraction. My preference is Cantonese— Hong Kong style. It is easy to spot these restaurants since their display windows hang whole white or boiled chickens, roast ducks, slabs of smoked barbecued pork or Char Siu. Patricia discovered a dim sum place along the periphery of Chinatown where her fellow ex-fashion models dined recently. Dim Sum Go Go is a small restaurant without the cart that goes around. The tables with white tablecloth have starched white napkins giving it a semblance of formality, which is not usual for a Dim Sum place. As soon as we took our seats, four tiny bowls were placed on our table with XO sauce made with dried scallops, shrimps and chili, crunchy soybeans, ginger sauce and chili-vinegar dip. We were tired and hungry from walking around. Silvian and Sabrina heartily forked into the Lo Mein, stir fried wheat flour noodles with beef and vegetables. The ala carte menu was extensive but we chose to have the Dim Sum, which literally means touch the heart. The unique culinary art of dim sum originated with the Cantonese of Southern China, bite-sized pieces that are traditionally served in small steamer baskets or small plates and served with tea. We started with the Steamed Rice Roll, a thin wide strip of rice noodle stuffed with choices of shrimp, beef, vegetables or parsley and scallions and rolled. We settled for beef since they ran out of shrimp. The delicately glutinous rice rolls are served with sweet soy sauce.

The classic dumplings followed:

Har Gow or shrimp, chives and shrimp and duck. Each bite was scrumptious! We could not resist ordering Baked Roast Pork Bun filled with Char Siu or barbecued pork. The bun was soft and spongy rendered golden since they were baked. We also enjoyed Lo Mai Gai or steamed sticky rice filled with pork, chicken and mushrooms were wrapped in lotus leaves, which imparted a nice flavor.