Dim sum, explained: a short guide to the small dishes and how to share them

What dim sum is

Dim sum (点心) means roughly “to touch the heart”. It is not one dish but a whole family of small portions (steamed, fried and deep-fried), traditionally served with tea through the morning and early in the day. The idea is simple and rather lovely: many small flavours, shared around the table, at an easy pace.

Where an ordinary menu asks you to choose one dish, dim sum asks the opposite. You do not order for yourself, but for the table, and taste your way through a broad selection with the people beside you. Some bites are barely more than a mouthful, others a little more filling, but none of them is meant to be eaten alone.

It is this sharing that makes dim sum more than a meal. It is a social form, an excuse to sit a long while, talk a lot and taste everything. Few ways of eating suit good company better.

A tradition born around the teapot

Dim sum grew up in the teahouses of southern China, especially in the Canton region, where travellers and traders stopped to rest and drink tea. In time the teahouses began to serve small dishes alongside the tea, and the custom of yum cha (饮茶), “to drink tea”, became as much a meal as a pause.

Over time the small dishes became an art in their own right. Kitchens compete over the thinnest skins, the juiciest fillings and the most delicate shapes. What began as simple food to accompany the tea became a whole repertoire of dishes that demand both a deft hand and patience.

Today dim sum is known all over the world, but the spirit is the same: tea in the cup, small plates on the table, and time enough. It is a tradition as much about how you eat as about what you eat.

The main types

Dim sum covers a wide range, but most dishes fall into a few main groups. Know these, and you find your way easily wherever you eat:

• Steamed dumplings, such as har gow (虾饺), with a thin, translucent skin around prawn.
• Filled buns, such as char siu bao (叉烧包), soft and steamed, with sweet pork inside.
• Fried and deep-fried bites, crisp outside, juicy within.
• Rolls and wraps, such as spring rolls and the steamed rice rolls cheung fun (肠粉).
• Sweet dishes, small desserts to round off the meal.

A good dim sum table tends to have a little from each group, so you get the steamed, the crisp and the sweet. The variety is half the pleasure.

Har gow and the steamed

The steamed dishes are, for many, the very heart of dim sum. Har gow (虾饺), the classic prawn dumpling, is almost a test of a kitchen: the skin must be thin enough to glimpse the prawn inside, but strong enough to hold its shape. It takes experience and a calm hand.

Other steamed favourites are siu mai (烧卖), open dumplings of pork and prawn, and various dumplings with vegetables or chicken. What they share is that the steaming keeps the filling juicy and the flavour clean, a technique typical of the Cantonese kitchen.

The buns and filled dishes

Char siu bao (叉烧包) is perhaps the most recognisable dim sum dish of all: an airy, steamed bun with sweet, marinated pork inside. The contrast between the mild, lightly sweet dough and the savoury filling makes it a favourite for young and old alike.

The buns come in many forms, steamed and baked, with meat, vegetables or sweet fillings. They are often a little more filling than the small dumplings, and are good to have on the table to give the meal some substance.

The fried and deep-fried

Where the steamed dishes are clean and soft, the fried give contrast. Spring rolls, crisp-fried dumplings and deep-fried bites add crunching texture and deeper, toasted flavours to the table. They tend to be the first to disappear.

A good rule is to let the fried come a little after the steamed, so they are eaten while still crisp. They keep less well sitting and waiting, and are at their best straight from the kitchen.

How to put the table together

There is no single right way, but a simple rhythm works well: begin with the steamed while you settle in, let the fried come after, and end with something sweet. Order a little at a time and top up as you go, rather than filling the table all at once. That way everything is eaten while it is at its best.

Think about balance. A little prawn, a little meat, a little green; something mild and something with more character. If you are many, you can happily order more portions of the favourites. There is no shame in a second round of what worked.

The craft behind the small dishes

It is easy to underestimate how much craft lies in a small dim sum dish. A har gow (虾饺) may look simple, but the skin must be rolled thin by hand, the filling balanced, and each dumpling folded with a set number of fine pleats. It takes years to learn, and a calm hand to carry out.

That is precisely why dim sum is also a measure of a kitchen. Whoever masters the small dishes shows patience, precision and respect for the tradition. These are not dishes you can fake your way through; they reveal at once if anyone has rushed.

With us we make the dumplings by hand, the way they should be made. It is time-consuming, but it is part of who we are, a kitchen that takes its time, even with the smallest bites.

Made to be shared

More than almost any other way of eating, dim sum is built around company. The plates are set in the middle of the table, and everyone helps themselves in turn. You taste what your neighbour chose, and pass your own favourites on. The meal becomes a conversation in itself.

This is what makes dim sum such a fine occasion to gather. Whether it is family, friends or colleagues, the sharing gives the evening a natural flow. No one sits alone with their own dish; everyone is part of the same table.

So if you want to give someone a good experience, a dim sum table is a safe choice. It is informal, social and full of small discoveries, a way of eating that almost always puts people in good spirits.

Tea and drink alongside

Tea is the traditional companion to dim sum, and not without reason. The fresh, lightly bitter tea cuts through the rich and clears the palate between bites, so each new dish tastes as clear as the first. The custom of topping up the tea of the person beside you is a small, fine gesture that belongs to the meal.

If you prefer something else in the glass, dim sum also goes well with a fresh, aromatic wine or a light beer. What matters is that the drink is fresh enough to follow the many flavours without taking over.

Many small flavours, shared around the table, at an easy pace.

A meal to take your time over

If there is one thing dim sum teaches you, it is to take your time. This is not food to be eaten on the run, but a meal that unfolds over several rounds, with tea in the cup and conversation around the table. The pace is part of the dish.

That is precisely why dim sum suits a lazy weekend day or a calm evening so well. You order a little, taste, talk, and order a little more. No rush, no hurry, just small, good bites and good company, hour after hour if you like.

It is an old way of eating, but it touches something we miss in a busy everyday: the pleasure of sitting a long while, sharing a table, and letting a meal be exactly as long as it should be.

A word on etiquette

Dim sum has its small customs, but no strict rules. Serve your neighbour before yourself, top up the tea in the cup beside you, and take your time. Tapping the table lightly with two fingers to thank someone for refilling your tea is an old gesture you are welcome to use, but no one expects it.

What matters most is the spirit: this is not a dish to rush through. Dim sum is made to be enjoyed slowly, in good company, over several rounds.

Cheung fun and the rice rolls

Among the less famous, but all the more loved, dim sum dishes you will find cheung fun (肠粉): broad, silken rolls of steamed rice batter, often filled with prawn, meat or vegetables, and served with a light, faintly sweet soy sauce. Texture is the whole point here: they are smooth, almost silky, and quite unlike anything else on the table.

The rice rolls show another side of dim sum than the dumplings and buns. Where the others play on a crisp or soft filling in a skin, cheung fun is about the rice batter itself, about how thin, even and delicate it can become. It is a dish that takes a calm hand and a little courage to try, but one that often becomes a favourite.

Sweet dim sum

Dim sum tends to end on a sweet note. Egg tarts (蛋挞) with a crisp pastry shell and a soft, golden filling are perhaps the best known, an inheritance from the meeting of Chinese and European baking. Other sweet touches are steamed buns with sweet fillings, or small jelly-like desserts.

The sweet dishes are small on purpose. They are meant to round off the meal, not to fill, and go nicely with a last cup of tea. Add a couple of them to your order and the table has a natural close without anyone being over-stuffed.

Dim sum for beginners

If you have never eaten dim sum before, there is no reason for nerves. The fine thing about this way of eating is precisely that it is forgiving: you order a little, taste, and order more of what you liked. There is no “right” order you must know, and no dish you have to like.

A good tip is to start broadly. Take one steamed, one fried and one bun, and you quickly get a feel for the range. If you especially like something, you order more; if something was not quite to your taste, you try something else next round. That way the meal becomes a small voyage of discovery.

And remember that dim sum is meant to be social. It is a way of eating that suits company best, sharing everything, and letting the meal take its time. Bring someone you want to sit a long while with, and you are already well on your way.

What time of day suits dim sum?

Traditionally dim sum is a morning and lunch tradition, closely tied to tea and the calm hours early in the day. In the teahouses of southern China it is still how many eat it: as a social brunch that can last for hours.

With us you do not have to wait until the morning. The hand-made dishes are part of the menu, and suit a light start to a larger meal in the evening as well as a meal in their own right. The idea of sharing and time enough is the same, whatever the hour.

Dim sum with us in Bergen

Dim sum is still a little under-served in Bergen, and we think that is a shame, for few meals suit the city better: company, a table, time enough. With us we make the dumplings by hand, and you will find the hand-made dishes on the dinner menu.

Do bring company that loves to share. That is when a dim sum table is at its best, when the plates circulate, the conversation flows, and you taste your way through all of it, bite by bite.