In which Tyler eats chicken feet
When Tyler and I went out to Sunset Park on Saturday, we went for Dim Sum. For those of you who don't know what Dim Sum is, it is a Cantonese tradition, and it involves small dishes of delicious food.
But, it is oh-so-much-more than that...
Dim Sum restaurants are usually loud and crowded massive ballrooms with hundreds of large, round tables that you share with strangers. On weekends, there is often a host at the entrance, giving out tickets and calling out numbers like you would at the deli. When your number is called, you're whisked off into the restaurant, where you are seated in record time and served tea. An empty bill is automatically placed on your table.
And then the food comes. And comes. And keeps coming. The waitresses move with carts full of small steamer baskets and plates. They'll bark at you, trying to pawn off what they have: Rice! Soups! Pork buns! Shumai! Shrimp! Dumplings! Chicken feet! Snails! And tons of other dishes I can't distinguish for the life of me. When you partake, the waitress takes a little stamper, stamps your bill, and scurries off while you wait for the next cart.
It. Is. Awesome.
Last weekend, I tried something that threw me for a loop. Soup dumplings. If you don't know what soup dumplings are, I'd like you to picture them in your head.
Soup dumplings.
Are you picturing the dish?
There ya go. Got a nice little picture in your head?
Okay.
Did you picture this?
Where is the soup? I asked when it was placed in front of me. And what I discovered, my friends, nearly blew my mind. The soup was inside the dumpling. INSIDE OF IT, people.
Stick a fork in me. I'm done.
Have you ever had Dim Sum before? What about a soup dumpling? Ya know, the dumpling where the soup is inside of the dumpling. INSIDE OF IT, I tell you! I was amazed...
