Saturday, October 18, 2008 Dimsum Delights By Jenara Regis Newman
DIMSUM is Cantonese for “touch the heart.” And there’s such a great variety of these “little eats” that everyone should be able to come across one that touches one’s heart and delight one’s palate.
In Cebu, dimsum used to be only siopao, kuapao, lumpia Shanghai and siomai, until (the late) Henry Uytengsu decided to bring to Cebu what he loved to eat in his trips to Hong Kong.
This was in 1969 when he came up with Ding How at the mezzanine of a building in Juan Luna (now Osmeña Blvd.) corner Colon streets.
It was a novelty, not just in the variety of dimsum fare that could be had, but also in the way it was served: in baskets that were placed in carts for the customer to choose from.
One just picked the basket with the dimsum of one’s choice. The price was also uniform for each basket and the waiters would just have to count the baskets to determine one’s bill.
This proved to be such a success that it has remained to this day, in another form. Ding How moved from its original location to Choachuy Bldg., then branched out to Colon and finally to Mango Ave. It metamorphosed into Ding Qua Qua in 1987, in the present-day Harbour City in SM and Ayala, and in Dimsum Break in SM and 12 other branches.
Dimsum began in China as a Cantonese custom linked with tea drinking.
Today dimsum can be found all over China and has become a cultural tradition, with the dimsums differing from region to region.
Picking up on this tradition is Tea of Spring in Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa, which offers a Saturday and Sunday a la carte spread of 60 varieties of dimsum prepared by its chef Kenny Yong Tze Hin.
The genial chef Kenny has been in Tea of Spring has trimmed down the menu of this outlet and changed it “to more traditional Cantonese style,” which means the dimsums offered are also Cantonese. Anything else not in the menu, he would always be willing to do, as well as to alter the seasonings to suit one’s taste.
Chef Kenny is from Malaysia. He has been learning both Cebuano and Filipino and carries a notebook where he lists down words, their meanings and marking them as Cebuano or Filipino, as the case may be.
He now knows the difference between tugnaw and bugnaw. And yes, he has also learned to like some Filipino dishes — crispy pata, sisig, and kinilaw (tuna) — and to cook vegetable sinigang! He just might make Filipino dimsum someday!
