[Update October 21, 2022 – I’ve moved the PDF up to the top of this document as many people are viewing the article but not clicking on the download, which I think is the most valuable part of the post! Anyway, click on the picture to open the PDF]
You’re learning Mandarin, so you probably also want to enjoy some Chinese food. While everyone might have their favourite specific menu item, I think we can all agree that the best overall meal is definitely going to be dim sum.
Personally, I prefer the cart-style dimsum as this makes ordering the easiest. Second easiest is the picture menu. And last is the dreaded traditional-characters only menu. I started learning mandarin way before google translate allowed you to just pull out your phone and have the characters magically translated into words and for a long time I wanted to create and print out a cheat sheet. With starting this blog, I decided to actually do the thing.
Below you’ll find a table of each of the most common dim sum items (note that I’ve left stuff like tripe off because if you’re just learning mandarin you probably weren’t brought up with tripe and …. well, its probably not something you’re eager to get into). If you insist on knowing my personal favourite, its obviously going to be XLB at Din Tai Fung. I’ve had the privelege of eating at Din Tai Fung in both Singapore and Taiwan. I think I’ve also eaten at ones in China and Toronto, but I believe those were both knock offs. XLB to me is only “maybe” a dimsum item because you’ll never see them in carts. So, if I have to go strict dimsum, its probably the shrimp wonton. Why do they come with mayo? I don’t think I’ve seen mayo in any other chinese cooking, but here it is in a little bowl for dipping shrimp into. Is this because white people like dipping shrimp into mayo? I’m not sure, because there is no other time that I dip shrimp into mayo. Is it because white people like dipping deep fried stuff into may? Again, not sure, I mean, maybe french people put mayo on french fries (rumor? true?) but I don’t think I regularly do this. Anyway, its the top of my list. The full listing is available below and in the PDF linked above.
很好吃 – hěnhăochī
| Egg Tart 蛋挞 dàn tà daahn tāat |  |
| BBQ Pork Bun 叉烧包 chāshāo bāo chāsīu bāau |  |
| Pineapple Bun 菠蘿包 bōluó bāo bōlòh bāau |  |
| Shu mai 烧卖 shāomài sīu máai |  |
| Rice Noodle Roll 肠粉 chángfěn chéungfán (with shrimp – Xiān Xiā Cháng Fěn – 鲜虾肠粉) (with beef – Niúròu cháng fěn – 牛肉肠粉) (with char siu bbq pork – Chāshāo cháng fěn – 叉烧肠粉) |  |
| Pan Fried Dumpling 锅贴 guōtiē wōtip |  |
| Soup Dumpling (XLB) 小笼包 xiǎolóngbāo síu lùhng bāau |  |
| Shrimp Dumpling 虾饺 xiā jiăo Har gow |  |
| Chicken Fee (Phoenix Claws) 凤爪 fèngzhuǎ fuhng jáau |  |
| Deep Fried Squid 椒鹽魷魚 Jiāoyán yóuyú |  |
| Spare Ribs 排骨 páigǔ pàaih gwāt |  |
| Chinese Broccoli 芥兰 jièlán gaai3 laan4*2 |  |
| Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf 粽子 zòng zi |  |
| Turnip Cake 萝卜糕 luóbo gāo lòbaahk gōu |  |
| Shrimp Wontons 炸蝦角 Zhà xiā jiǎo |  |
| Crab Lollipop 蟹钳 Xiè qián Hai Kim |  |
| BBQ Pork Puffs 叉烧酥 chāshāosū caa1 siu1 sou1 |  |
| Donut Stuffed Rice Roll 炸两 zháliǎng jaléung |  |
| Shrmip Stuffed Eggplant 煎釀茄子 Jiān niàng qiézi |  |
| Pan Fried Chive or Leek Dumplings 韭菜饺 jiǔcàijiǎo gau coi gaau |  |
| Scallion Pankcakes 葱油饼 cōngyóubǐng cung jau beng |  |
| Smashed Cucumber 拍黃瓜 pāi huáng guā pai wong gwaa |  |
Mr. Ni Hao 