Dim Sum decoded: a guidebook for gwailos

Liza Chu

You may enjoy a few helpings of siu mai, char siu bau and har gau at your local dim sum restaurant. But did you know some places have up to 60 dim sum dishes on the menu? If you don’t read or speak Chinese, you’re sometimes stuck with ordering from the tourist menu, and this is far more limited.

Liza Chu teaches Cantonese and local culture to newly arrived expats at the American Women’s Association. She’s now distilled her knowledge of Chinese cuisine and dining etiquette into a little photo guidebook to dim sum. Each dish is identified with Chinese characters and a pronunciation guide, and icons alert those with allergies or special diets. There’s a special listing of dim sum dishes most popular with children. Dim sum chefs explain their cooking methods, and even the art of tea drinking is covered in detail.

The book — Dim Sum: a survival guide — appears soon, but in the meantime, here are some shots from the photo shoot.