He’ll point out a few of the more popular dishes if there’s something they don’t end up liking, it can easily be swapped out for something else. When diners are new to dim sum, Eddy encourages them to experiment. While all these dishes are traditional, the chefs can tweak the recipes to accommodate for special diets or food allergies. Kids gravitate toward the crunchy, easy-to-grip shrimp rolls and sweeter fare, from mango pudding (pictured above) to custard rolls.įoreign travelers, especially those from Latin America, and adventurous eaters alike seem to love the chicken feet (pictured at bottom-right of top photo), a more exotic dish consisting of skin and tendons. The most popular dishes with Westerners are ha gao (shrimp dumplings) and siu mai (pork dumplings mentioned above). “Everyone has their favorites,” Eddy says. And best of all, you need only point to what you want to have it brought out from the kitchen. Don't be intimidated-the menu has pictures it has numbers it has names written in both Chinese and English. On a weekday: order dim sum off the menuĬartless weekdays offer a quiet, more peaceful atmosphere for ordering off the paper menu, which you can find near the hostess stand. Hot tip: if you want to experience the pushcarts without the crowds, head over on a Saturday, which tends to be less busy than Sundays, Eddy says. When I ask Eddy why they keep them, he says “tradition.” Not only to impress the tourists who come in, but also to let Chinese-American customers share this bit of culture with their kids. Phoenix is one of the only dim-sum restaurants in Chicago that still uses these carts. Should you see something you like, they leave the basket on your table and put a checkmark on your bill (it’s tallied at the end). On weekends and special holidays, the wait staff winds traditional dim sum carts around tables, lifting lids off stacked steamer baskets to reveal the enticing contents. Here's our guide to dim-sum dining, with a few tips from Eddy. Sound intimidating? It doesn't have to be. Its customer base has grown over the years, and today, even with other dim sum restaurants up and down the block, you’ll find long lines winding out the door on any given Sunday. In 1996, Phoenix was one of the first restaurants to introduce dim sum to Chicago. “What we are serving in this restaurant is what we are eating in Hong Kong. When I first came in, he was waving at a group of regulars while on the phone haggling with a seafood vendor. This little fact about the siu mai is one of many surprising stories I learn from Eddy, the chef at Phoenix, where he also handles a million other tasks to keep the restaurant running smoothly. Easily, they’re one of the most labor-intensive items at Phoenix Restaurant in Chicago, where each weekend this Chinese restaurant serves 80 different varieties of classic dim sum snacks. Each has a thin wrapper that needs to be delicately pleated by hand. We paid $50 for 2 very hungry people, which is very cheap for the quality of food.Siu mai: small pork dumplings. You have to flag down waiters for ordering dishes and additional sauces. There are no bowls or spoons, only plates and chopsticks (unacceptable). Service was really, really awful, even by Chinese restaurant standards. Keep in mind this restaurant specializes in Cantonese cuisine, not Shanghainese, Szechuan or other regions in China (yes, the cuisines are very different). Given the quality of this noodle dish, I highly doubt their dinner dishes are worthwhile. The beef ho fun was the worst it had too much noodle with few beef slices and barely any vegetables, and the ho fun was all stuck together. We will try the baked BBQ pork buns (a la Tim Ho Wan in HK) next time. The fried dishes were mediocre the BBQ pork turnover had too much dough. We were especially impressed by the xiaolongbao, which held together and had a spoonful of tasty broth inside. All the steam dishes were excellent - high filling-to-dough ratio, thin but durable dough, and fresh ingredients for the filling. We ordered some classics - shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, xiaolongbao, rice roll with shrimp, beef ho fun, egg custard buns, BBQ pork turnover, and fried taro. We had to wait 30 min for a table and enjoyed exploring China Town and the Asian supermarket next door (yummy and cheap Asian snacks) while we waited. There was a long queue, which dissipated quickly. We came here for a Sunday brunch (typical dim sum time) in May. I have probably sampled the world's best dim sum in both Vancouver and Hong Kong so I know a thing or two about high quality dim sum. Being of Asian descent and from Vancouver, Canada, I'm very picky about Asian food, and dim sum in particular.
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