Dim Sum Criteria

My wife and I were in New York recently and, as we do in many places, hit a dim sum restaurant. It was called the Golden Unicorn, but that isn’t really relevant. What is relevant is that they didn’t have baked pork buns or baked custard buns.

Mind you, it was a really good place. They had good steamed pork buns, puff pastry custard, shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, milk custard, and many other things. It was good and we ate until we burst. However, the fact remains: they didn’t have baked pork buns or baked custard buns.

My wife and I are big into dim sum places. Wherever we go, we try to find dim sum. New York, San Francisco, Denver, even Omaha. We go dim sum when we can. Heck, the choices are pretty surprisingly plentiful in Denver. And, we are pretty flexible for the most part. Well, I think I am anyway. I’ve tried pig’s ears, duck’s feet, chicken’s feet, and the uncountable number of things that are claimed to be shrimp (and often aren’t). I like things like the shrimp on half peppers and things like that, but my favorites are the baked pork buns and the baked custard buns.

Now, I know that dim sum is a rich and varied culinary tradition. No two places are going to do things the exact same way. Still…I’m always going to be a bit disappointed if baked pork buns and baked custard buns aren’t available. It may be a provincial attitude, but it’s mine.

So, Golden Unicorn…you were good, but you still didn’t have baked pork buns and  baked custard buns. Sorry, but that means you’ll never get into my all time favorites. We won’t even talk about the shark fin dumplings you had pictures of and didn’t have for some reason.