Good Dim Sum in Paris

So finally we found a good dim sum restaurant in Paris!
As I’ve mentioned before, Asian food in Paris generally doesn’t match up to other major cities with a big Asian population (http://overnightchef.blogspot.com/2010/06/crying-tiger.html). So when it comes to dim sum, which is specific to Cantonese cuisine, it’s even harder to find a good place in Paris. We’ve had some bad experiences (http://overnightchef.blogspot.com/2010/10/sum-like-it-not.html) so we went to Tai Yien with relatively low expectations.

It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The first good sign was the rows of crispy duck and roast pork hanging in the window. It turns out the Tai Yien is well known for their crispy duck, and deservedly so. Cantonese Roast Duck (not to be confused with Peking Crispy Duck, which is often served with pancakes and plum sauce) can be slightly laborious to make and can even a seasoned chef like my dad could not always get it right. The duck needs to be blanched in boiling water first, before being smothered in a mixture of spices and sauces, hung to dry overnight and then cooked in an oven. More traditionally, this is done in a furnace and I noticed that Tai Yien had such furnaces. The results were delightful: crispy skin, moist tender meat and mouth-watering flavours. Sorry I didn’t get a photo of either the duck or the impressive furnaces in the kitchen – I was too busy eating!

Back to the dim sum: this is mostly identified by the stacks of bamboo steamers, although dim sum is a generic term referring to the meal in general which could also incorporate cold, deep fried, pan fried, noodle or soup dishes as well – not to mention the desserts. The dumplings tend to be small, bite-site morsels of meat, seafood or vegetables wrapped in a coating of flour, served freshly steamed and piping hot. They can be enjoyed with soya sauce, vinegar, chilli sauce/oil or just simply on their own. Best served with any variety of Chinese tea.

The most popular are har gow (prawn dumplings wrapped all-round in a white translucent skin) and sui mai (prawn and minced pork in a won-ton pastry wrapping). For me, they are the benchmark of any good dim sum. The best har gow are so light and translucent you can see the prawns quite clearly, which themselves should be juicy and firm. These are hard to make well and I’ve had some awful variations with thick chewy skins, mushy prawns (a sign that they just steamed frozen ones) or floury textures.

You can get many types of steamed dumplings, and of my favourites are spinach, prawn and chive, and a duck dumpling which I have only ever found in one place: Dim Sum Go-Go in New York. When we lived in Manhattan a few years ago, we used to go there almost every weekend (despite the dubious name) and the duck dumplings were so good that we would often order about three steamers each – just of the duck dumplings. I dare any of you to go to New York, and not try these!

We were 5 in the beginning but were joined by 3 others nursing hangovers and it was just as well we’d chosen to have dim sum that day for two reasons: 1) it’s the best hangover cure I know of, 2) it’s also a very sociable occasion and people can arrive a bit later or leave a bit earlier as their schedule permits. Whenever I am visiting Hong Kong, chaotic schedules and a family trait of poor time-keeping mean that I tend to sit at the table for a good three of four hours while various relatives drop by to say hi and nibble on a few steamed dumplings, washed down with tea. They then scoot off to be replaced shortly by another batch of cousins. It’s kind of like the food equivalent of the squad rotation policy, and I’m Jose Mourinho.

Some other favourite dishes include:

Fried dumplings, in this case prawn. It’s served with mayonnaise, which I’ve never quite understood.

Cheung fun, prawns or roast pork rolled in a thin layer of rice flour and steamed, served with a slightly sweet soya sauce.

Turnip cake, which is actually made from a type of radish called daikon. I tried making it once with actual turnip and it was bitter and foul. It is mashed up with bits of dried shrimp and pork sausage, and pan fried or steamed. I prefer the pan fried version with its crispy skin and lovely scent.

Egg rolls, which are wheat dough tubes deep fried. There are many derivations of this, but this one was particularly good as it was moist on the inside with a filling of shredded chicken, pork, glass noodles and sliced vegetables – all wrapped in a crispy, crunchy skin.

Won ton soup, simmered wheat pastry dumplings stuffed with prawns and minced pork, which can be served with or without noodles.

Other good dishes which we didn’t get to try at Tai Yien include congee (a type of savoury rice soup which is served traditionally for breakfast with meats, fish or vegetables), char siu bao (big fluffy white dumplings filled with red roast pork), lotus leaf rice (pork or chicken with vegetables and rice, wrapped and steamed in a lotus leaf), and erm...chickens feet. Exactly what it sounds like. Chickens feet. Don’t ask me what, why or how, we can save that for a whole new blog entry some other time! Then there’s desserts such as egg custard tarts (crispy golden pastries filled with sweet creamy egg custard), mango pudding (rich and sweet filled with chunks of mango), and tofu fa (soft silky tofu topped with syrup).

As I mentioned at the start of the article, dim sum is a Cantonese tradition and in Hong Kong, you’ll see restaurants serving this as morning snacks, brunch, lunch, and as a form of afternoon tea (when it is usually half price). To be honest you can get the dishes at all hours these days. In the expatriate HK communities such as London, Vancouver, San Francisco etc, dim sum is typically served from around 11am til 4pm spanning brunch to late lunch. Most of all, it’s a highly sociable gathering and a great sharing experience: the more of you there are, the more variety of dishes you can order. It also works out to be relatively cheap. On this particular occasion, we ate our fill for around 14 Euros each. Definitely the best dim sum I have enjoyed so far in Paris. I look forward to taking on new challengers, but for now, I’d happy to have found a home away from home.

Restaurants featured on this blog entry:

Tai Yien: 5 Rue De Belleville, 75011 Paris

Dim Sum Go Go: 5 E Broadway & Catherine, New York NY