My Dim Sum Memories

CEBU, Philippines – Dim sum or "touching the heart" has been served in China for the past 2,500 years and continues to be popular as an accompaniment to the Chinese tradition of 'yum cha' or drinking tea. The National Geographic Channel has once featured a video documentary entitled "Dim Sum Odyssey," which showed the varieties of dim sum: dumplings, buns, fried or steamed dim sum, rice rolls, animal-shaped dim sum, vegetarian and dessert.

It is the bun category - or the siopao - that I have fond memories of. It all goes back to 'siopao' and 'mami' in Ma Mon Luk restaurant in the mid-60s Manila. The servings there were huge, enough to appease the constantly growling stomach of a cash-strapped UP student. The Ongpin district was only a walking distance, and I was always salivating at the sights and aromas of food at Binondo restaurants (despite the equal smell of horse manure from the so many calesas in the area!). But Ma Mon Luk was all I could afford - and it was good enough, fortunately.

In Cebu, dim sum was being served in Ding How in 1969. The restaurant was an instant hit because the food was delicious, the service was quick (via the dim sum trolley) and the prices were very affordable. Food writer Sandy Daza called the Ding How fare as Cebu-style dim sum; food columnist Jigs Arquiza also said that steamed fried rice has evolved to become a Cebuano dish.

I recently attended a press preview of the Panda Pao Dim Sum Festival at Tea of Spring, Shangri-La's Mactan Resort. It was a 10-course delicious journey into the world of the customary and upcoming dim sum dishes. The dishes served were: Tea of Spring's Fresh Shrimp Dumplings ('hakaw' or 'har gau'), Steamed Pork and Shrimp Dumplings, Chicken and Pork Taro Puff with Black Pepper, Fried Pork and Seafood Dumpling, Steamed Barbecue Chicken in Pork Buns ('char siu bao'), Pan fried Radish Cake, and the panda-shaped Steamed Custard Buns.

New concepts of Steamed Dumplings were also introduced. We had a great time tasting and taking photos of the Bunny-Shaped Delights, Shrimp with Fresh Scallops, and Shrimp with Asparagus.

The Panda Pao Dim Sum Festival at Shangri-la Mactan was launched on August 8 and is now available from 12 noon to 2:30 p.m. - Saturdays and Sundays only.

The monarch of all dim sum is the 'hakaw' or the crystal shrimp dumpling because it embodies the full essence of dim sum, in aesthetics and taste, in one compact package. The skin is made with wheat starch and tapioca flour which turns translucent when steamed. The ideal 'hakaw' has a plump belly filled with fresh prawn and bamboo shoots; it is shaped with a curvature, 30 degrees on each side, with 10-13 folds, and juicy to the bite. It is steamed for 7 minutes and should reach the dinner table within the next 5 minutes. One extra fold and the dumpling, excuse me, could burst open and one extra minute of steaming would overcook it.

By the way, I have observed that nearly all countries have a kind of dumpling, whether fried or boiled. The Philippines has its own empanada and Pancit Molo.