Dim sum guide
Dim sum guide: how to order and what the dishes mean
Dim sum is one of the most structured Chinese restaurant formats. This hub explains how to read a dim sum menu, how to build a balanced order, and what the 20 most common dim sum dishes are.
What dim sum is
Dim sum is a Cantonese meal format built around many small dishes, tea, and shared ordering. In older cart-service rooms, servers move through the dining room with steamers and trays. In many current restaurants, diners order from a checklist, tablet, QR code, or printed menu. The logic is the same: a table builds a meal from dumplings, buns, rice rolls, fried items, braised dishes, sweets, tea, and sometimes congee or noodles.
The phrase is often treated casually as “Chinese brunch,” but that is imprecise. Dim sum is a menu system. It has its own pacing, portion logic, service language, and quality signals. A good dim sum order balances steamed, fried, sauced, sweet, starch, vegetable, and tea.
How to order dim sum
| Step | Practical rule |
|---|---|
| Start with steamed standards | Har gow, siu mai, and a rice noodle roll provide a reliable baseline. |
| Add one starch | Lo mai gai, congee, turnip cake, or rice rolls prevent the meal from becoming only dumplings. |
| Add one fried item | Wu gok, spring rolls, sesame balls, or salt and pepper squid add texture but can make the meal heavy. |
| Add one texture dish if the table wants it | Chicken feet and spare ribs are classic, but not every diner wants bone, cartilage, or gelatinous texture. |
| End with one sweet | Egg tarts, sesame balls, custard buns, pineapple buns, or ma lai go work as dessert. |
| Do not over-order immediately | Dim sum dishes look small, but baskets accumulate quickly. |
20 common dim sum dishes
| Dish | Type | What it is | Dietary signals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Har Gow 虾饺 / 蝦餃 · xiā jiǎo |
Steamed dumplings | Steamed shrimp dumplings with a thin, translucent wrapper. | Contains shellfish. The wrapper is not a conventional wheat-flour wrapper, but gluten-sensitive diners should not assume safety because preparation and starch sourcing vary. |
| Siu Mai 烧卖 / 燒賣 · shāo mài |
Steamed dumplings | Open-topped steamed dumplings, usually made with pork and shrimp. | Usually contains pork, shellfish, wheat, and soy. Not vegetarian and not halal unless a restaurant specifically states otherwise. |
| Char Siu Bao 叉烧包 / 叉燒包 · chā shāo bāo |
Buns | Steamed or baked buns filled with sweet-savory Cantonese barbecue pork. | Contains pork and wheat. May contain soy, sesame oil, oyster sauce, egg wash in baked versions, and cooking wine. |
| Cheung Fun 肠粉 / 腸粉 · cháng fěn |
Rice rolls | Steamed rice noodle rolls, often filled with shrimp, beef, char siu, or fried dough. | Filling determines the risk: shrimp contains shellfish, beef may use soy, char siu contains pork, and fried dough contains wheat. |
| Lo Mai Gai 糯米鸡 / 糯米雞 · nuò mǐ jī |
Rice | Savory sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, usually with chicken, sausage, mushroom, and sauce. | Often contains pork sausage, chicken, soy, and cooking wine. It is not usually vegetarian. |
| Turnip Cake 萝卜糕 / 蘿蔔糕 · luó bo gāo |
Pan-fried | Pan-fried radish cake made from shredded daikon and rice flour. | May contain pork, dried shrimp, soy, and shared griddle contact. Vegetarian versions must be confirmed. |
| Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce 豉汁凤爪 / 豉汁鳳爪 · chǐ zhī fèng zhǎo |
Braised | Braised chicken feet in fermented black bean sauce. | Contains chicken, soy, fermented black beans, and possibly wheat in soy sauce. May be mildly spicy. |
| Steamed Spare Ribs with Black Bean Sauce 豉汁排骨 · chǐ zhī pái gǔ |
Steamed meats | Small pork rib pieces steamed with fermented black bean sauce. | Contains pork and soy. May contain wheat through soy sauce and possible cooking wine. |
| Steamed Beef Balls 牛肉球 · niú ròu qiú |
Steamed meats | Springy steamed beef balls, often served with a light Worcestershire-style dipping sauce. | Contains beef and usually soy. May contain wheat, egg, or shared steamer risk depending on kitchen. |
| Bean Curd Skin Rolls 腐皮卷 · fǔ pí juǎn |
Rolls | Rolls wrapped in tofu skin, usually filled with meat, shrimp, vegetables, or mushrooms. | Contains soy. Fillings often contain pork or shrimp. Vegetarian versions must be verified. |
| Wu Gok 芋角 · yù jiǎo |
Fried | Deep-fried taro dumplings with a lacy crisp exterior and savory filling. | Often contains pork, shellfish, wheat or starch blends, soy, and shared fryer risk. |
| Sesame Balls 煎堆 · jiān duī |
Sweet fried | Fried glutinous rice balls coated in sesame seeds, often filled with lotus seed or red bean paste. | Contains sesame. May be made in a shared fryer and may contain wheat or other allergens depending on kitchen. |
| Egg Tarts 蛋挞 / 蛋撻 · dàn tà |
Sweet baked | Small custard tarts with a flaky or cookie-like crust. | Contains egg, wheat, and usually dairy. Not vegan. |
| Pineapple Bun 菠萝包 / 菠蘿包 · bō luó bāo |
Sweet buns | Sweet bun with a crackly topping; it usually contains no pineapple. | Contains wheat and often egg or dairy. The name does not imply fruit filling. |
| Xiao Long Bao 小笼包 / 小籠包 · xiǎo lóng bāo |
Soup dumplings | Soup dumplings filled with meat and hot broth. | Usually contains pork, wheat, and gelatinized meat broth. Crab versions contain shellfish. |
| Custard Bun 奶黄包 / 奶黃包 · nǎi huáng bāo |
Sweet buns | Steamed bun filled with sweet egg custard. | Contains wheat, egg, and dairy. Not vegan. |
| Fung Zao and Spare Ribs 凤爪与排骨 / 鳳爪與排骨 · fèng zhǎo yǔ pái gǔ |
Comparison | A comparison of two classic black-bean-sauce dim sum meat dishes. | Chicken feet contain chicken and soy; spare ribs contain pork and soy. Both may contain wheat through soy sauce. |
| Spring Rolls 春卷 · chūn juǎn |
Fried | Crisp fried rolls filled with vegetables, meat, or shrimp. | Often contains wheat and may contain pork, shellfish, egg, soy, and shared fryer risk. |
| Congee 粥 · zhōu |
Rice porridge | Rice porridge served plain or with meats, seafood, preserved egg, or other toppings. | Stock and toppings matter. Ask about pork, seafood, chicken stock, soy, and preserved egg. |
| Ma Lai Go 马拉糕 / 馬拉糕 · mǎ lā gāo |
Sweet steamed | Steamed brown sugar sponge cake. | Contains wheat and egg, and may contain dairy. |
| Salt and Pepper Squid 椒盐鱿鱼 / 椒鹽魷魚 · jiāo yán yóu yú |
Fried seafood | Fried squid seasoned with salt, pepper, chile, and aromatics. | Contains seafood and may contain wheat or shared fryer risk. |
Sample first orders
| Table | Order |
|---|---|
| Two people, classic | Har gow, siu mai, shrimp cheung fun, turnip cake, egg tarts. |
| Four people, broad | Har gow, siu mai, char siu bao, cheung fun, lo mai gai, spare ribs, turnip cake, sesame balls. |
| Less adventurous table | Har gow, siu mai, BBQ pork buns, beef balls, spring rolls, egg tarts. |
| Texture-focused table | Chicken feet, spare ribs, bean curd skin rolls, turnip cake, lo mai gai, congee. |
| Mostly non-pork table | Har gow, shrimp cheung fun, beef balls, congee if stock is acceptable, salt and pepper squid, egg tarts. Still ask about lard, pork broth, and shared equipment. |
How to judge a dim sum restaurant from the menu
| Signal | What it suggests |
|---|---|
| Specific dish names | The menu is more useful when it names har gow, siu mai, cheung fun, lo mai gai, and turnip cake rather than using broad labels. |
| Steamed, fried, baked, sweet, and rice sections | A serious dim sum menu shows multiple preparation families. |
| Clear filling descriptions | Shrimp, pork, beef, chicken, taro, lotus seed, red bean, egg custard, and rice rolls should not be mysteries. |
| Tea and pacing | Dim sum is not just a list of snacks. Tea, sharing, and pacing matter. |
| Dietary clarity | Pork, shellfish, wheat, soy, egg, sesame, lard, cooking wine, and shared steamers/fryers should be handled directly. |