Okay, let me tell you how I went about figuring out all those dim sum dishes, you know, trying to match the names with actual pictures. It sounds simple, but it wasn’t always straightforward.
Getting Started – The Confusion
So, I really love dim sum, right? Going to those busy restaurants, seeing the carts roll by… but half the time, I had no clue what was what. People would rattle off names in Cantonese, or the menu just had English names that didn’t really describe the look. Like, “steamed dumpling” – okay, but which one? There are dozens! I wanted to know exactly what I was ordering or pointing at.
My first step was just doing some basic online searches. You type in “dim sum dishes” and yeah, you get lists. Lots of lists. But the problem was, many sites just had names, no pictures. Or they had tiny, blurry pictures. Sometimes the picture didn’t even seem to match the description! It was frustrating. I’d see something amazing on a cart, try to find it online later, and end up totally lost.
Digging Deeper – What Actually Helped
I figured I needed a better approach. Just randomly searching wasn’t cutting it. I started thinking about where you’d find reliable pictures linked to the right names. Restaurant menus! That seemed logical.
So, I started looking up menus for popular dim sum places online. Not all of them have pictures, but some do, especially the ones trying to attract non-Chinese speakers. This was way better. I could see a picture of Har Gow next to the actual name “Har Gow” (or Shrimp Dumpling). Same for Siu Mai, Cheong Fun, all those classics.
- I looked for restaurants in big cities known for dim sum – like Hong Kong, Guangzhou, San Francisco, Vancouver. Their online menus were often more detailed.
- I paid attention to food blogs, but specifically ones focused on Chinese cuisine or even just dim sum. Some bloggers take really good photos and are careful about naming things correctly
