Alright, so let me tell you about this dim sum menu adventure. It wasn’t some fancy restaurant gig, nah, this was for a get-together I was planning. I wanted to do something a bit different, you know? Not just order a bunch of random stuff and hope for the best. I wanted a proper plan, a culinary roadmap, if you will, for our “dim sum oriental cuisine” feast.
Getting Started: The Brain Dump
First thing I did, I just grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. Old school, I know. I started listing out every single dim sum dish I could think of, every single thing I’ve ever liked or even just heard of. It was a chaotic mess. We’re talking siu mai, har gow, char siu bao (the fluffy steamed ones, not the baked ones initially, that came later), spring rolls, turnip cake, custard tarts… you name it, if it popped into my head, it went on the paper.
My list got seriously long. I mean, way too long for a normal group of people to eat unless we planned on rolling out of there. But it was a good starting point, just to get everything out of my system.
Trying to Make Some Sense of It
Next, I looked at this massive list and thought, okay, how do I organize this? I figured I’d try to group them. You know, like:
- Steamed stuff
- Fried stuff
- Baked goodies
- Sweet things
- Maybe a “specials” or “must-haves” section
So I started moving items around. Har gow, siu mai, steamed pork ribs with black bean sauce – those were easy, straight into the “Steamed” pile. Spring rolls, sesame prawn toast (if you count that, some do!), fried wontons – “Fried” section, done. The egg tarts and maybe those sweet sesame balls, they went into “Sweets.”
This part wasn’t as straightforward as I thought. Some dishes felt like they could fit into multiple categories, or I just couldn’t decide. And then there’s the rice noodle rolls, cheung fun – definitely steamed, but they feel like a category of their own almost, with all the different fillings.
The Painful Culling Process
Okay, with some loose categories in place, I had to face reality. I couldn’t order or make everything. That’s just not happening. This was the toughest part, honestly. I had to start cutting dishes. It felt like picking favorite children. I tried to think about balance – not too much fried stuff, a good variety of fillings (pork, shrimp, veggie options if needed), and definitely some classics that everyone loves.
I also thought about what’s actually feasible. If I was trying to make some of this myself (which I wasn’t, this time it was all about ordering from my go-to spot), that would heavily influence the list. But even for ordering, you gotta be realistic. I starred my absolute non-negotiables first. The har gow and siu mai were definitely staying. No question.
Adding a Bit More Detail (For Myself)
Once I had a more manageable list, I started adding little notes. Like, for the char siu bao, I specified “steamed” because sometimes you get the baked ones and they’re different. For some items, I jotted down quantities – like “2 orders” of this, “1 order” of that, depending on how popular I thought it would be or how many pieces come in an order. This was more for my reference when actually placing the order.
I also thought about the flow. You don’t want all the heavy stuff at once. Maybe start with some lighter steamed items, then bring in some fried, then the more substantial dishes like lo mai gai (sticky rice in lotus leaf), and finish with sweets.
The Final “Menu”
So, what I ended up with wasn’t some beautifully designed graphic. It was basically a neatened-up list, probably typed out on my computer, with the categories I’d settled on. Something like:
STEAMED DELIGHTS
- Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gow) – MUST HAVE
- Pork & Shrimp Dumplings (Siu Mai)
- Steamed BBQ Pork Buns (Char Siu Bao)
- Steamed Spareribs with Black Bean Sauce
- Rice Noodle Rolls with Shrimp (Ha Cheung)
CRISPY & FRIED
- Spring Rolls (Veggie)
- Fried Wontons
- Pan-fried Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Go)
BAKED & SPECIALS
- Baked BBQ Pork Buns (if feeling it)
- Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf (Lo Mai Gai)
SWEET ENDINGS
- Egg Custard Tarts (Dan Tat)
- Sesame Balls (Jin Deui)
It was simple, practical, and it worked. When it came time to order, I just pulled out my list, and boom, done. No hemming and hawing, no forgetting someone’s favorite. And yeah, the feast was pretty epic. Having that bit of planning made all the difference. It wasn’t rocket science, just a bit of thought put into what we all love to eat when it comes to dim sum.
