

In San Francisco, eating dim sum is a staple experience, the options include high-end thrills, it was a no- frills atmosphere at mom-and-pop joints. Some of the dim sum stands in San Francisco are not on Grant Avenue, it is farther west in the Sunset andRichmond neighborhoods. If you are looking for the best dim sum in San Francisco, our first tip is to venture beyond Chinatown. San Francisco has it all, from high-end joints to casual takeout. The best dim sum San Francisco has to offer

To her, “dim sum is an event for friends and family” where they gather in large numbers to leisurely enjoy simple dishes together.Īside from the cultural significance, there’s a practical reason to eat dim sum with a large group: you get to try as many of the shareable bites as possible. As a native Hongkonger, Shi sees the cuisine as a communal activity rather than just a meal. Don’t go soloĭim sum is traditionally meant to be experienced with a group.
BEST DIM SUM SAN FRANCISCO HOW TO
Whether you’re a newcomer to dim sum or an avid enthusiast, Shi has tips on how to find the best dim sum restaurants, and what to order when you get there: 1. And as a veteran with a career spanning over 25 years, her hands are more than up to the task. “Since everything is handmade, we can make things more delicate and detailed,” she says. In Hong Kong, Shi was accustomed to cooking with ingredients delivered fresh every morning but in her current kitchen, located in the Mojave Desert, she has to incorporate packaged ingredients and “tweak recipes in order to make sure everything tastes the same.”įrom the chef’s personal experience, the reason for this is simple: Women have smaller hands that are more suitable for the intricate hand-work dim sum requires. So now, she is constantly seeking ways to be more creative without sacrificing taste. But fine-dining crowds with a penchant for flavorful and visually pleasing food are looking for more than just traditional fare, Shi says. The chef and her crew churn out dim sum classics such as har gow (shrimp dumplings) and siu mai (pork-and-dried-oyster dumplings). During her 11-year career at the luxury hotel and casino, Shi and her staff of seven have been responsible for executing the daily dim sum orders at Wing Lei, the first Chinese restaurant in North America to receive a Michelin star, as well as Mizumi, Red 8 and Wazuzu. She took this lesson to heart when she became executive dim sum chef for all of the Asian restaurants at Wynn Las Vegas in the late 2000s. Without the cultural emphasis on dim sum as a communal event to add context to her cooking, Shi had to learn how to transform traditional dishes to suit the American palate-which she found to mean more seasoning and stronger flavors.
