The Wandering Dumplings

In just about every restaurant in the United States with service you can expect the exact same pre-meal procedure. You are welcomed, seated, given a menu with just about a hundred different foods, and expected to find one dish going off of nothing but a name and a vague description. I don't think I am alone in sometimes getting a bit overwhelmed and having not the slightest idea what to order after given just a few minutes to look over a plain text menu.

However, this service model is certainly not the only model. What if instead of looking at a menu and being forced to one meal, a wealth of different entrees were carted to you fresh out of the kitchen for you to pick and choose?

Dim sum Cart- Hazel Tsoi

Dim sum is a unique style of Chinese cuisine where food is prepared in small, appetizer sized portions, stuck on a cart, and rolled around the giant dining room to catch the eyes of hungry customers eager for their next dish. The carts transport a panoply of different Chinese treats and confections. All the customer has to do is pull one over and point at as many different plates as they could possibly want. This system is so attractive for three reasons. It is easy to choose your meal when your options are hot and steamy right in front of your eyes, you don't need to commit to any one dish when you can (and should) get one of nearly everything, and you get your food immediately; there's virtually no time between getting pumped for your lunch and taking your first bite.

Har gow (Shrimp Dumpling)- Wikimedia

These carts wheel around some of my favorite foods in the entire world. You could pull over a cart to get steaming plates of shrimp dumplings, buttery bar-b-que pork puns, and many other well-known Chinese specialties, but there are also a host of foods that would be more interesting for the daring foodie. These include hot turnip cakes, fried squid, fish balls, seaweed, and even "phoenix claws" which are deep fried, boiled chicken feet. (I have never been able to muster up the courage to eat a pair of chicken feet, but I hope I will one day as to get the full dim sum experience). If none of those sound particularly appetizing, don't fear, there is certainly a ton of more foods that the average american could enjoy.

Phoenix Claws- Wikimedia

After being stuffed with twenty different plates of Chinese, it's important to not stop eating there, for the desserts are the best part. Well known for their egg custard tarts, sweat cream buns, and jin deui (sweet red bean paste in a sesame seed bun), the dim sum restaurants roll out more dessert than they do all other foods combined. The bite sized creamy egg custard tarts are so addicting it's quite easy to shovel down three plates full before even realizing.

Middle- Egg Custard Tarts, Back- Jin Deui Wikimedia

True dim sum is quite hard to come by in Manhattan (even in China Town), but delicious dim sum restaurants line the streets in Flushing, Queens. Though a long subway ride from Manhattan, it is certainly worth the trip not only for the food, but is also quite cool to walk around and has a few great off-touristy destinations.