Sunday Morning Chowdown

Having only been out for dim sum once before, I was excited when a friend invited me along on a trip to her favourite dim sum place. Judging by the crowd, Sun Sui Wah is many people’s favourite dim sum place.

For those who have never been to dim sum before, the meal consists of small dishes—often dumplings—that are ordered from carts that servers tour around the restaurant and serve with tea. Though the dishes are small, it’s pretty easy to overdo it; the spectre of painful gluttony looms large.

The staff at Sun Sui Wah are incredibly efficient. As soon as you sit down, the tea and dumplings start to arrive and soon as you’re done the dishes are cleared and the bill arrives. While this level of service may have more to do with the exigencies of capitalism (fast service means faster meals, which means more customers) than it does with pleasing customers, I admire it tremendously. On a Sunday morning, I want to eat, not mess around with pleasantries and wait for food.

And the food did not disappoint, coming as fast and furious as it did. We ordered a number of dishes, almost too many to keep track of. There was beef in noodle, pork and shrimp dumplings, BBQ pork in phyllo, spring rolls, potstickers, crispy tofu and some steamed gai lan, a veggie dish to balance the meal. My favourite dish was the spicy beef shortribs.

Our most adventurous dish was a plate of small octopuses, lightly sautéed in soy sauce. The flesh was succulent and not chewy as I had feared it might be. I definitely recommend it.

I also recommend saving room for dessert, something sadly missing from most of my brunches. I started off with a hollow, warm sesame bun, followed it up with tapioca pudding with red bean paste, chased that with a whipped cream-stuffed crepe and finished off with mango custard. It was an awesome finish to a great meal.

Be warned, however, it’s not cheap. I didn’t see any prices displayed and we went a bit wild. While I certainly feel that I got my money’s worth, it was a bit more than I expected.

duncan@toothanddagger.com