CreAtive with dim sum
AT Dim Sum & Co, Kuala Lumpur’s latest pork-free dim sum restaurant, there aren’t any waitresses wheeling carts of little baskets. Instead, all dim sum items are made to order which guarantees that they are delivered to your table fresh and piping hot.
The restaurant also strives to be different from others by offering dim sum from morning till late at night.
Dim Sum & Co, which opened in April, sports cheery contemporary decor and bright lighting. Absent is the 1960s Shanghai music which is popular in other dim sum joints. Instead, pop prevails, coaxing me to tap my foot.
There are 30 items on the menu, which are categorised as steamed, crispy, savoury and sweet. The classics dominate but there’s a splash of the chef’s creations. They include crispy avocado roll, fluffy yam bites and molten charcoal bun.
As tea and dim sum are like Siamese twins Chang and Eng, apart from soft drinks, the restaurant also offers four types of tea: pu er, tie guan yin, xiang pian, cha wong and chrysanthemum. My order is taken by a waitress who taps the items on an iPad.
At Dim Sum & Co, you get to enjoy traditional and innovative dim sum at any time of the day, writes Ewe Paik Leong
MINI FEAST
My mini feast begins with the classics: BBQ chicken bun, siew mai, shrimp rice noodle roll and loh mai kai. The fluffy bun is a masterpiece as its texture rivals that of cotton candy and it contrasts well with the deepflavoured BBQ chicken fillings. However, I prefer the chicken shreds to be coarser so that there is more texture.
The siew mai is topped with masago and my first bite conjures up images of a yummy Japanese gyoza. Using minced chicken and shrimp instead of pork has not affected the taste of the siew mai. The shrimp roll contains shrimp that cannot be any fresher, while the rice noodle sheets are silky smooth.
Traditionally, the loh mai kai (steamed glutinous rice with chicken) is wrapped in lotus leaf but it has been dispensed with here. Nevertheless, the flavours of the loh mai kai have not been compromised, everything is well-balanced.
Next, I try the creative dishes. They are charcoal egg tart, molten charcoal bun and crispy avocado roll. The crust of the egg tart delivers a subtle charcoal texture but the custard is not wobbly, which is the gold standard of perfection.
Did I say charcoal? Yes, bamboo charcoal is used to make the crust black. No, it’s not harmful to your health. There’s the story of a Japanese woman who consumed poison to commit suicide, and later in a fit of hunger, ate a black cake containing bamboo charcoal. The bamboo charcoal neutralised the poison and she lived!
When I stick chopsticks into the filling, molten salted egg custard oozes out. When this gooey filling tangos with the charcoal bun, they produce a slightly salty-sweet taste which evokes in me childhood memories of eating glutinous rice balls during Lantern Festival. The stick-to-your-teeth texture of the morsels requires copious gulps of tea to wash them down. From the manner it is presented, this bun seems to be targeted at children.
Then, I try the avocado roll, which is prepared by deep-frying avocado puree with beancurd warp. This dish adheres to the classic “crispy exterior but moist and soft interior” formula. Of course, the avocado roll is a winner. Finally, cold mango pudding arrives as my dessert. It’s utterly refreshing.