Dorchester Dim Sum

Here I am, just a few postings into this blog, and you've noticed that I've already bent my rule about beginning postings with the letter "I". We do make exceptions for alliteration. Might as well get that out of the way.

Eating dim sum is always an adventure, especially if one has dietary restrictions. At this particular restaurant in Dorchester, a relentless procession of middle aged Chinese women, each with a different cart, approached the table I was sharing with a friend almost seconds after we sat down. The contents of these carts remained obscure - most contained steaming meat and seafood which remained hidden inside opaque white buns or dumplings.

I had to speak fast, before these eager ladies deposited plates and steamers of "je ne sais quoi" onto our table.

"I don't eat pork," I said, as clearly as possible.

Sure enough, all Cart Lady #1 heard or understood was "pork", and began to lift the lids of all of the pork dishes in the cart, about 75% of the total. Depending on your perspective, the prevalence of pork either made our choices that much easier or deprived us of a good portion of the menu.

We began with a seaweed salad, which my friend spotted on the cart's second shelf, hanging out alongside some cubed jello. Then we added a crispy concoction of fried potatoes and shrimp. The cart lady stamped our bill but hung around, expecting us to pile on some more.

"That's it for now," my friend said, receiving a blank look in return. "Come back in ten minutes," she added, pointing to her wrist to indicate a watch. The cart lady shrugged her shoulders to let us know that she didn't understand.

Before we had taken too many bites, Cart Lady #2 had pulled up, tempting us with her fragrant wares. The dumplings looked divine, but when we asked her what was in them, most had pork.

"Do you have any with vegetables?" I asked.

She shook her head no.

"Do you have any with chicken?" my friend inquired.

Rummaging through the cart, Lady #2 found a steamer of fluffy white buns filled with chicken. I was dubious, but for the sake of variety we ordered them. The dough was on the sweet side, and somewhat sticky, and the piece of poultry inside was small and nastyish, not offal but not really meat, either. We didn't finish those. We also tried shrimp that came wrapped in silky white coverings that were the shape, but not the texture, of crepes. Lady #2 squirted a dark sauce on them after placing them on our table.

Stamp, stamp. Our bill, unintelligible to me, was now decorated with two more colored dots.

I decided that - for me, at least - dumplings in translucent pouches were a better bet. From Cart Lady #3 we ordered a basket of shrimp dumplings (the beef ones looked iffy) and my friend wanted to get some buns with bean paste (I didn't touch those).

At that point we decided to call it quits on the ordering. It was a hot day and we went easy on our bellies, leaving behind an orphaned white chicken bun and a white bun with bean paste.

The waiter took our stamped sheet and returned with a bill we could understand.

The sum for our dim sum? $20.