I’m going to be honest; I didn’t know what dim sum was up until I came to Montréal this semester. This afternoon, as a group activity, we went to a restaurant in Chinatown that specializes in dim sum. The restaurant, which is inside a shopping mall, is called La Maison Kam Fung and is conveniently located in China Town on Saint-Urbain street, just a ten minute walk from the UQAM residence.
When we walked into the restaurant, we were seated at a large, round table (there were 7 of us) and given our tea and chopsticks. After a few minutes, servers came out of the kitchen with carts full of food, which they offer to you and charge by the plate, which is to be shared by the table. Since it was my first time, I let everyone else choose what we ate. We all started out with wanton soup, and then ate a little bit of everything. We had a variety of dumplings, noodles, rice, and calamari. The trick to dim sum is to watch for the carts to see if you want something before they walk by…. or, if all else fails, reach for the cart and they will notice you. The Cantonese phrase dim sum means literally “touch the heart” or “order to your heart’s content”. It was a great first experience.
Getting lunch with friends is fun- not just for the food, but because you are surrounded by amazing people. That is something that I have enjoyed about my experiences here in Montréal, and I can’t wait to have more experiences similar to this one!