Dim Sum

Admirers of Chinese cuisine and more properly of dim sum have a stronghold where you can enjoy this delicious cuisine in Milan. The restaurant, which bears its name, is Dim Sum and is located in Via Nino Bixio 29. The elegant and refined place where to experience high and innovative Chinese cuisine.

The dim sum culture has very distant roots, the story places the beginning of this gastronomic tradition in the times of the Silk Road in southern China. At that time, travelers needed small meals to refresh themselves and rest. For this reason, along the way, small tea rooms were opened for the consumption of these numerous dishes: hence the name of the practice “yum cha” (to drink tea). And its dim sum translates into what is considered a type of southern Chinese cuisine, which includes a long series of various small dishes to be consumed with Chinese tea. The dim sum since then have been served on saucers or in bamboo baskets since the morning (some restaurants in Hong Kong are starting to offer them already at five in the morning) until noon, while during the rest of the day until evening they are offered other Cantonese cuisine dishes. These preparations have always been part of the everyday life of the Chinese people: many elderly people consume them the morning after the physical exercises and it is tradition that the parents bring the children to eat them on Sunday to meet the grandparents. Once considered a simple snack to eat on the premises or to take away, today they are an integral part of meals especially in Hong Kong.

Today in Milan these preparations are very popular and Dim Sum restaurant has played a very important role in making this Chinese food culture known. The entrepreneurs Yike Weng and his wife Chiara Wang Pei (among others present at the restaurant and very attentive to the needs of customers at the table) have been owners of the restaurant since 2000, when in place of Chinese cuisine they offered the Japanese one in the Kyoto restaurant. In 2013 the turning point, precisely opening Dim Sum. Both originate from the Zhejiang region, over the years they have distinguished themselves for the very high quality of the proposed dishes and the elegance of the restaurants they manage (impossible not to mention Bon Wei): at Dim Sum the interiors are refined, cared for with care by architect Carlo Samarati, who made it a restaurant played on the cold tones of steel and blue, perfect for relaxing and enjoying the very delicate dishes made by chef Wu Jing, specialized in this type of preparation. It is possible to see him at work together with his brigade in the open kitchen, while he prepares dim sum by hand — they are made fresh daily — and he cooks them at the moment.

As already mentioned, the dim sum are multiple and at the restaurant it is possible to taste the main preparations and in different exclusive variations. There are therefore: shao mai (Chinese dumpling originally from Hohhot, Inner Mongolia), jiaozi (type of bundle stuffed with meat and / or vegetables whose paste, usually thick, in the dim sum is thin, almost transparent, pressed with the fingers to the ‘extremity), shao long bao (type of steamed dough in the Jiangnan geographical area — which includes various areas of Jiangsu, Ahui, Jianxi, Zhejiang — and in particular associated with Shianghai and Wuxi; prepared in a special bamboo basket with Xiaolong, which gives its name) and baozi (steamed stuffed bun). They are dishes suitable for sharing, made with high quality raw materials; the dumpling paste is made fresh with soft wheat flour and rice. Some dishes are very traditional, while others give a nod to modernity, such as: shao mai with Chianina beef and chives; jiaozi with edamame and truffle, in rice paste; jiaozi with pumpkin and balsamic vinegar pearls, in rice paste, with saffron; jiaozi with chicken and coconut milk, in rice paste, with carrot in the dough. To complete the dim sum tradition there are obviously plenty of soups. There are also several proposals of rice and noodles, numerous meat-based recipes that include chicken, beef, pork, duck and then of course fish and shellfish dishes. Vegetable dishes complete the menu. Preparations are served at the table in elegant dishes, dim sum in traditional bamboo baskets. Here the staff recommends drinking wine or champagne as an accompaniment: modernity is also evident from the choice not to offer Chinese tea. Dim Sum has also received the title “maison recommendée” from the champagne Perrier Jouet — it is the first time that this brand confers such title to an Asian restaurant in Italy. Even the dessert menu proposes revised recipes in a contemporary key; it’s worth asking the staff for the best off-menu preparations of the day.

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🌎 http://www.dim-sum.it 📍 Via Nino Bixio 29, Milan 📞 02 2952 2821 💰 $$$$