Dim sum satisfies our endless fascination with intricate edibles you can eat with your fingers. Tucked in those small Chinese appetizers are bursts of umami-rich flavor and a range of ingredients, from slow-cooked pork to tender shrimp. The variation of shapes, textures and tastes from item to item further adds to the charm.
Baton Rouge’s only authentic dim sum restaurant—aptly named Dim Sum, just off Airline Highway—has been run by Ying and Ming Zhou (pronounced “zow”) for the last decade. The Zhous and their daughter Amy have led the restaurant’s quiet, steady growth and its enduring popularity among patrons interested in real Cantonese cooking.
The Zhous moved to south Louisiana in 1994 from Canton Province after the owners of the popular Hammond restaurant, Trey Yuen, recruited Ying Zhou to serve as chef. Zhou worked in Trey Yuen’s kitchen for seven years, then took a job with now-closed A Taste of China in Baton Rouge. At the time, he and his family were regular customers of Dim Sum because of its unique menu. So when Dim Sum’s owners decided to sell their restaurant in 2004, the Zhous bought it.
“We didn’t want to lose the only dim sum in town,” says Amy Zhou. “Over the years, we improved things and added to the menu. Everything is homemade. What we’re cooking here is authentic Cantonese food.”
The Zhous prepare homemade dumpling wrappers and fillings in small batches. They also make fresh sauces, including hoisin, sweet soy and the distinct red pepper sauce that sits on each table. Every other year, the family returns to China to revisit the cuisine, returning with new ideas about what to prepare at the restaurant. Moreover, says Amy Zhou, they source hard-to-find Chinese vegetables, such as illusive snow pea leaf shoots and the unusual on-choy, a plant whose hollow stem and leaves are both consumed.
Dim Sum doesn’t serve its famed appetizers from a cart, like other similar restaurants. Instead, patrons check them off from a list as they would sushi. Amy Zhou says her parents prefer to make items to order. “They’re much fresher that way,” she says. dimsumrocks.com
1. Chinese broccoli in garlic sauce
Dim Sum offers Chinese broccoli year-round. This version of the vegetable has smaller florets and larger leaves than the dominant variety. It’s stir-fried and bathed in homemade garlic sauce.
2. Singapore-style vermicelli
This noodle dish features thin rice noodles with barbecued pork and shrimp, with the addition of onions, bell peppers and a homemade curry sauce. It’s traditionally served with chicken, but the Zhous use fresh Gulf shrimp instead.
3. Siu Mai
One of Dim Sum’s most popular dumplings, the cylindrical Siu Mai is filled with diced pork, shrimp and Chinese black mushrooms. It’s also made with shrimp paste. A homemade wonton-like wrapper holds the ingredients, visible from the open top. The Siu Mai is steamed until tender, and is set off nicely by the restaurant’s homemade pepper and sweet soy sauces.
4. Cha Siu Bao
“Bao” signals bun-like dumplings with a dough made from wheat flour. “Cha Siu” means it’s stuffed with slow-roasted barbecue pork cut into tiny pieces and mixed with a sweet-savory homemade barbecue sauce.
5. Chive Gow
“Gow” refers to dumplings encased in rice flour wrappers. The Zhous prepare the Chive Gow by first combining wheat starch, rice flour, oil, salt and hot water. Rolled into small balls and flattened, the dough is filled with fresh shrimp, bamboo shoots and homegrown chives and then steamed.
6. Curry Calamari
Fresh squid is trimmed and marinated in homemade curry sauce prepared with coconut powder. Then the calamari is steamed until tender.
Fried seaweed shrimp rolls
(not pictured)
Ying Zhou cleans fresh shrimp and runs it through a grinder, creating a nicely textured shrimp paste. The mixture is rolled in seaweed wrappers and deep-fried.
