Hello. We are De Wet and Jin, and we are dim sum junkies. We just can’t get enough of the good stuff. Pushers of good times and authentic experiences that we are, we think you MUST have dim sum when you’re in China (or even in your hometown). So, we’ll give you the inside scoop on the best dim sum dishes you MUST try.
Our dim sum guide comes with names (in English and Chinese) and pictures, so you have no excuse not to enjoy this essential experience when in China. It might seem intimidating to order your first dim sum, but it’s actually quite easy. Maybe you get a tablet with an English menu, or the staff member with the best English will be assigned to your table. Maybe not
Either way, all you really need is to show the server pictures of our dim sum dishes on your phone, and you’ll be good as gold.
Our guide has all the popular types of dim sum with pictures – it really couldn’t be easier. So don your stretchy pants, and hone those chopsticks skills because we are going for dim sum!
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What is Dim Sum?
Before we eat, let’s quickly see what dim sum is. If you’re hungry, skip right over this to get to our dim sum dishes and photos.
So you’re asking: What is dim sum?
I answer:
It’s the best brunch in the world!
When you have dim sum, you can expect a bite of everything. It can be steamed, braised, fried, baked or chilled. The morsels are sweet, savoury, sour, umami, spicy or plain. Firm, crispy, crunchy, spongy, watery, sticky…a basket of dim sum is a world of flavour and tastes.
In Cantonese, dim sum is known as yum cha (飮茶), meaning drink tea. Meanwhile, dim sum is known as dian xin (点心) in Mandarin and means touch the heart. None of my Cantonese colleagues knew what I was talking about when I mentioned dim sum. But mentioning yum cha lit up the faces, followed by a brabble of recommended dishes and places to go for the best yum cha.
Dim sum is a staple of Cantonese cuisine that has captured people’s hearts and taste buds worldwide. This bite-sized cuisine is served in bamboo baskets and features an array of savoury and sweet dishes, each bursting with flavour and character. However, to truly experience the essence of dim sum, you must try it in its birthplace: China.
And not just anywhere in China. Dim sum comes from Guangdong province in southern China, where we lived for four years. While you can find dynamite dim sum all over China, the place for the best dim sum is Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau or elsewhere in Guangdong.
Dim sum has deep cultural significance in southern China and is a must-try experience for any food lover visiting the country.
Our dim sum guide introduces you to some of the best dim sum dishes and restaurants to try in China, from our Chinese hometown of Zhuhai to the bustling streets of Hong Kong, Macau and Guangzhou to the vibrant city of Shanghai.
So let’s go and indulge in a culinary adventure that will take you through this beloved cuisine’s rich and diverse flavours.
How to Order Dim Sum?
To enjoy dim sum in China, follow these steps:
- Go to your chosen dim sum restaurant. A hostess will greet you, and after confirming the number of guests, receive a ticket with a number and wait until it’s your turn. Numbers are displayed on a screen in the waiting area. If it’s the weekend, prepare to wait for 30 minutes at least. Wait for your number to be called and follow a staff member to be seated.
- Dim sum starts with tea, so after settling in, your server will come and ask about tea. See our recommended teas below. Some teas are ridonkeylously expensive, so ask your server for the cheapest tea if you’re not a tea connoisseur. Your server will pour the tea for you.
- While waiting for the tea, look at the menu and immediately give up 😂 . The menu card comes with a pencil to mark the ones you want. This will all be in mandarin, so get out our dim sum dishes photos (below) and ask the server to tick them off for you.
- Make sure to choose from a variety of dim sum dishes, including steamed buns, something meaty, something green, and at least one dessert.
- The server will then take the card and place the order with the kitchen.
- Wait for your dim sum dishes to arrive while drinking tea and watching China having brunch. The server will bring the dishes to your table as they are cooked. Start eating as soon as they arrive, or they will get cold. Often in our experience, dim sum desserts might come first.
- Enjoy your dim sum! Remember that dim sum is meant to be a leisurely meal to be enjoyed with friends and family, so take your time and savour each bite.
Yum Cha Must Have Tea
Your server will keep a free flow of tea until you signal that it’s the end.
When you need more tea, leave open the teapot lid and balance it on the handle. A teapot with a lid ajar resting on the handle pointing outwards to the server is a signal that the tea gates should remain open.
Whenever someone pours you tea, it’s customary to tap your index and middle finger twice on the table to say thank you.
When you’ve had enough tea, keep the lid closed, and turn the teapot so that the handle points to the centre of the table.
Popular teas for dim sum are:
- Black tea 红茶 (Hóngchá). This is like English breakfast tea and is always nice.
- Fermented Pu’er tea 普洱茶 (Pǔ’ěr chá) from Yunnan province is dark and has a unique taste. We love it.
- Chrysanthemum 菊花茶 (Júhuā chá) looks pretty, but we’re not big fans of the taste.
- Longjin Green Tea 龙井茶 (Lóngjǐng chá) from the tea fields near Hangzhou is very good.
- Oolong tea 乌龙茶 (Wūlóng chá) is our all-time favourite tea for dim sum, or any time really. For the best Oolong, ask if they have Wuyishan Oolong.
Best Dim Sum Dishes to Try
Okay, now you have a table and some tea, and you’re waiting for your server to come and take your order. Below is a list of our favourite dim sum dishes with their names in English and Mandarin and photos.
Order away!
Our go-to-order for dim sum is always har gow, liu sha bao and cha shao bao, ma lai gao and a steamer of Chinese broccoli as a foundation, and then build up from there. Yes, we go all out when we do dim sum.
Xiā Jiǎo (虾饺)
Shrimp Dumplings
Cantonese name: Har Gow
These are steamed dumplings filled with shrimp and sometimes bamboo shoots or water chestnuts. It’s a must-have whenever we go for dim sum.
The dough is thin and slightly translucent, making the shrimp filling visible through the wrapper.
The dumpling wrapper is made from wheat and tapioca starch, giving it a slightly chewy texture. Har gow is a classic dim sum dish served with soy sauce or chilli sauce for dipping.
Chā Shāo Bāo (叉烧包)
Steamed BBQ Pork Buns
Cantonese name: Cha siu bao
Fluffy steamed buns filled with a sweet and savoury barbecue pork filling is one of the great dim sum dishes to order.
The filling is made with diced pork that has been marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and other seasonings.
The savoury-sweet and tender meat and that cloud of a bun are a match made in Chinese heaven.
Mì Zhī Chāshāo Sū (蜜汁叉烧酥)
Baked BBQ Pork Puff
Cantonese name: Char siu so
This is a bbq pork bun with a delicious twist. Chashao su is a baked char siu bao, and we actually prefer this version over the steamed one.
Baked pork puffs vary in texture and taste, depending on where you have them. Sometimes it’s just slightly crunchy and sticky outside, or our favourite when it’s incredibly flaky and almost like a mini pork pie pastry thing we know in the west.
Not all dim sum restaurants serve BBQ pork puffs, be we frequent the ones that do – for a reason.
Liú Shā Bāo (流沙包)
Salted Egg Yolk Custard Buns
Cantonese name: Lau Saa Bao
Liu sha bao, also known as “golden lava custard buns,” is our favourite sweet type of dim sum. It’s a soft, fluffy, steamed bun filled with a sweet, oozy custard filling.
The custard filling is made from salted egg yolks, sugar, butter, and milk, giving it a creamy and rich texture. The filling oozes out when you bite into it, giving the dish its characteristic “golden lava” appearance.
Be careful when eating this one; the golden lava is very hot and runny – but damn delicious.
Fèng Zhuǎ (凤爪)
Chicken Feet
It won’t win any prizes for the most beautiful dim sum dish, but it sure is a strong contender for the most delicious. We always joke that it’s falling-off-the-toe-tender and damn tasty. We love it!
The Chinese name, Feng Zhua, translates to Phoenix Claws, and an epic dim sum dish like this needs an equally epic name. Seriously, you must give it a try.
The skin and cartilage of the chicken feet become gelatinous and super tender during the cooking process, giving them a unique texture that is both chewy and slightly crunchy. Combine that great texture with a dynamite black bean sauce, and you have yourself a dim sum champion.
Eating chicken feet is easy as the meat is so tender you just suck it right off the toe and spit out the tiny bones.
Cha Shao (叉烧)
Honey BBQ Pork
Cha Shao is a Cantonese-style sweet and savoury pork roast and O.M.G! The meat is coated in a marinade made from honey, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and Chinese five-spice powder.
The pork is often roasted over an open fire or in a special oven until it is tender and caramelized on the outside. The marinade gives the pork a caramelized glaze and a reddish-brown colour characteristic of char siu.
A good char siu is sticky on the outside and a perfect combination of fat and meat.
Nuò Mǐ Jī (糯米鸡)
Glutinous Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf
Cantonese name: Lo Mai Gai
I love this dim sum dish, but Jin is not a huge fan. It’s filling, and warm with lots of textures and tastes going on – probably the best Cantonese comfort food.
Nuò mǐ jī is made with glutinous rice, chicken, Chinese sausage, mushrooms and sometimes salted egg, wrapped in lotus leaves and steamed.
The lotus leaves impart a subtle earthy flavour to the dish.
Hóng Mǐ Cháng (红米肠)
Rice Rolls
This rice noodle roll stuffed with plump shrimp was made famous by Guangzhou’s equally famous Dian Dou De dim sum restaurant.
What sets this rice roll apart from the rest is the use of red rice in the rice noodle roll, which gives it a slightly nutty and earthy flavour.
The rice roll also contains a layer of something super crispy (sorry, we do not know what), giving it a soft, chewy, crunchy texture all in one.
Shao Mai (烧麦)
Pork & Shrimp Dumplings
Cantonese name: Sui Mai
Another classic dim sum dish is sui mai, or shao mai. Siu mai is the Cantonese version most people know – a light pork and shrimp dumpling. The Chinese version from the north, shao mai, is often stuffed with rice and minced meat and is larger and heavier.
For dim sum, we prefer the Cantonese version. Siu Mai consists of a thin, round wrapper made of wheat flour, which is then stuffed with a mixture of ground pork, shrimp, mushrooms, ginger and water chestnut.
The filling is usually seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil giving it a savoury and umami taste. Siu Mai is typically garnished with a small amount of roe, diced vegetables, or other ingredients to add colour and flavour.
Gān Chǎo Niú Hé (干炒牛河) Stir Fried Beef Noodles
This Cantonese stir-fried rice noodle dish can be found on most dim sum menus across China.
Also known as Beef Ho Fun, the dish consists of flat rice noodles stir-fried with sliced beef, bean sprouts, onions, scallions, and a dark soy sauce.
The dish is known for its savoury and slightly sweet flavour, with the noodles being both chewy and soft in texture.
It’s a very tasty and filling dish, and it can even be a meal on its own.
Xiān Xiā Yún Tūn Miàn(鲜虾云吞面) Shrimp Wonton Noodles
This popular Cantonese dish consists of delicate wontons and springy, slightly chewy egg noodles swimming in a light shrimp-flavoured broth.
The wontons are typically made by wrapping juicy shrimp, flavourful minced pork, or a combination of the two in a super thin wrapper and then boiling in the soup.
We love Shrimp Wonton Noodles because it’s light and damn tasty (especially in the winter). For us, this is classic Cantonese comfort food at its best.
Xiaolongbao (小笼包) Soup Dumplings
Often referred to simply as XLB, these little things are dynamite and explode with flavour – literally – so eat carefully.
The delicate dough of the dumpling is shaped like a small purse and contains a savoury filling and broth inside that bursts when you bite into it.
XLB is served with vinegar, light soy sauce, and slivers of gingers. Carefully dip the XLB in the sauce, and add a few pieces of ginger to the spoon with the dumpling. Then poke or bite a hole to suck out the soup and then swallow it all together. You’ll reach nirvana seconds after 🙂
Eat it any other way, and you will be covered in very delicious dumpling soup.
In winter, XLB is often served with prized Yangcheng Lake hairy crab meat or roe.
Mǎ Lā Gāo (马拉糕)
Brown Sugar Sponge Cake
Cantonese name: Ma Lai Go
Tasting of slightly burned caramel, ma la gao is a super fluffy sponge cake and a famous dim sum sweet from Guangdong province.
The steamed cake, made from rice flour, sugar, and water, is soft, spongy, and slightly sweet, with a texture similar to that of a sponge cake. A good ma la gao should have plenty of tiny bubbles in the cake.
Bolo Bao (菠蘿包)
Pineapple Bun
It is a soft, fluffy bun filled with a sweet pineapple filling, sometimes including a slice of butter. The top of the bun is covered in a crispy, sugary crust that resembles the texture of a pineapple’s skin, hence its name bolo which means pineapple in Cantonese.
Pineapple buns are a popular dim sum sweet in Hong Kong and Macau, but you’ll find them all over China and at Chinese bakeries across the world.
We like them because they are not overly sweet, and the contrast in textures is nice.
Zhū Yóu Sū Pí Yàn Wō Xiān Nǎi Dàn Tà (猪油酥皮燕窝鲜奶蛋挞)
Swallow’s Nest Fresh Milk Egg Tart
Half egg tart, half coconut pudding with an exotic twist, these beauties, with their too-long name to repeat, are made with a rich and flaky lard crust and filled with a creamy coconutty custard made from milk and eggs.
The more expensive versions have real swallow nests inside, while the cheap ones use agar jelly in the custard to replicate the texture similar to bird’s nest soup.
Xìng Piàn Liú Shā Qiú (杏片流沙球)
Custard Filled Fried Rice Cake
This small ball-shaped pastry is made from glutinous rice flour filled with a warm, sweet, and creamy custard-like filling known as liu sha. The pastry is coated with sesame seeds or almond flakes, giving it a nutty flavour and crispy texture.
When bitten into, the warm and rich filling oozes out, providing a delightful contrast to the crispy exterior. The name xìng piàn refers to the almond flakes used to coat the pastry, while liú shā means “flowing sand,” a term used to describe the texture of the custard filling.
Our Favourite Dim Sum Restaurants in China
I’ve been a little harsh on Guangzhou, saying people can skip the city on their China trip. That was before I got to know the wonderful dim sum delights of the city. If you’re a foodie, skip the rest of China and go straight to Guangzhou.
Our favourite dim sum restaurants in Guangzhou:
- 点都德 (Dian Dou De) is Guangzhou’s famous all-day dim sum franchise
- 淘淘居 (Taotaoju)
In Hong Kong, we frequent:
- Dim Sum Square in Central
- Dimdimsum in Wan Chai
For the best dim sum in Macau without having to win the jackpot:
- Tim Ho Wan (several branches including the Londoner and Venetian).
Shanghai might be outside the dim sum steamer, but it has a few excellent dim sum restaurants. We like:
- 何洪记/Ho Hung Kee in the Taikoo Mall
- 喜粤8号/Canton8 is a Michelin Star restaurant on Nanjing Road East – reservations essential!
In Xiamen, 潮福城大酒楼 (Chaofu City Restaurant) has a dynamite menu. Don’t miss the pineapple buns – the best I’ve ever had.
If you’re ever in the charming city of Zhuhai in Guangdong, don’t miss a dim sum at 金悦轩海鲜酒家(拱北店) It doesn’t have an English name, but loosely translates to Jinyuexuan Seafood Restaurant. It’s the best. The Charming Hotel at the Gongbei border to Macau also has a fantastic dim sum menu, although not quite as good at 金悦轩海鲜酒家.
Your training has been completed. Now go and order dim sum like a pro. (If you still need a crutch, keep our Chinese names and photos ready)
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Finally! Someone wrote about Dim Sum perfectly! I love your content.
As a Hong Kong Cantonese living in Shanghai for over 13 years, I used to have a lot more Dim Sum, but currently 喜粤8号/Canton8 is the best. I like the location further away from the bund, which is the origin on 汝南路 Runan Road.
Right now, the Cantonese dim sum scenes are less and less from Hong Kong and more from chains like 蘩楼 and 点都德。 I still have one more secret dim sum place I like called 龙凤楼 and 广范 and 食好点。
Thank you for sharing this again, It is definitely bookmarked and shared with my guests and visitors.
Thanks for the kind words, Genie. Yes, we love dimsum.
Canton8 was probably the best dimsum we ever had, especiallythe char siu. 点都德 (Dian Du De) is aloso one of our favourites, especially for a weekend brunch in Guangdong.