Alright, so the other day, I got this massive craving, you know? For dim sum. And not just any dim sum, I wanted to see the menu before I even thought about heading out. I’m past the point of just showing up somewhere and hoping for the best. Wastes time, and sometimes you end up disappointed.
My Quest for the Perfect Steamed Bun (and other goodies)
So, what’s the first thing I did? Grabbed my phone, obviously. It’s like an extension of my arm these days. I opened up my usual search app – you know the one – and typed in those magic words: “dim sum near me menu”. Pretty straightforward, I thought.
A whole load of listings popped up. Some were actual restaurants, some were those directory sites, and a few were, well, a bit confusing. The “near me” part usually works okay, my phone’s pretty good at figuring out where I am, give or take a block.
My main goal, though, was seeing that menu. I specifically added “menu” to my search because I didn’t want to just see a list of places. I needed to know what they were serving. Do they have my favorite har gow? What about siu mai? And crucially, do they have those lava custard buns? These are important questions, people!
So, I started tapping on the results one by one.
- The first place I checked, its website looked like it was designed back in the early 2000s. Took a bit of clicking around to even find something resembling a menu. It was a blurry picture, probably taken with an old flip phone. Not ideal.
- Another spot had a nice, clean site. Easy to navigate. Found their menu pretty quickly. It was a PDF, which is fine. I scrolled through. Looked decent, but maybe a bit pricey for what I was in the mood for.
- Then there were the places that linked to those third-party delivery apps. Sometimes their menus are on there, but they can be a bit different from the in-house menu, or they don’t show everything. It’s a bit of a gamble.
I spent a good ten, maybe fifteen minutes, just sifting through. Some places, you’d click, and there’d be no menu at all! Just pictures of the restaurant, or some flowery description. Come on, people, show us the goods! That’s what we’re here for. I don’t care about your “culinary philosophy” right now, I just want to know if you have chicken feet.
A few times, I found a menu, got all excited, and then realized it was from like, two years ago. Prices probably way off, items might not even be available. That’s always a bit of a letdown. You gotta keep that stuff updated, it’s not rocket science.
Eventually, after a bit of digital detective work, comparing a couple of promising options, I found one that looked like a winner. Good variety, seemed to have all my favorites, and the pictures (when they had them) looked pretty appetizing. The location wasn’t too far either, which was a bonus.
So yeah, that was my little adventure in finding a dim sum menu. It wasn’t exactly climbing Everest, but it took a bit more effort than you’d think. But hey, when that craving hits, you do what you gotta do, right? Now, the next step was actually going there and eating. That’s a story for another day, maybe.