Ah, Dim Sum! We haven't talked about this in ... months. Thanks for bringing it up.

And as a matter of fact, it DOES taste like chicken... sometimes. Sometimes it even tastes like chicken FEET - but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Dim Sum is both a meal and a style of food preparation for that meal. Dim Sum is traditionally served from late morning to early afternoon - say from 10 to 1 - so you can think of it as "brunch", Chinese-style. It's a leisurely, filling meal. Plan on spending an hour or two at Dim Sum, and bring your friends - if you're eating alone, it's not Dim Sum!

You'll never see a menu. Instead, waiters roll carts of food around, and as they pass your table you point at what you want. And at the end of your meal they total the bill by counting the plates of various sizes on your table. This has been the standard billing practice for centuries; in China, customers would reduce their bills by chucking plates out the window while the waiters' backs were turned.

The food is mostly steamed or baked; meats and doughs are common - sometimes in combination. A general favorite is baked hom bow - pork in a barbeque sauce, enclosed in an egg dough and baked until brown. Some of the choices - such as steamed duck's feet - tend toward the exotic. Desserts are strictly an acquired taste.