A semisheer wrapper allows a hazy glimpse of the blush-pink mixture that rests inside. Its tacky surface clings lightly to the bamboo steamer and your chopsticks, momentarily prolonging the anticipation. Then you pop it in your mouth: At first, the dumpling resists your chew, but it soon gives way, baring a pristine, delicately sweet, juicy shrimp filling. This is har gow, a “small, small bite,” per Sarah Leung, writer for the authoritative The Woks of Life blog, who classifies each dumpling as “its own experience” with “its own interplay of texture and taste.” On a video call, Leung went so far as to say that the one-bite treasures are “emblematic of dim sum.”
That’s quite a designation, as dim sum houses are known for a wide variety of delicious offerings—as well as a bustling social scene. When I spoke to Chris Cheung, chef/owner of Brooklyn’s East Wind Snack Shop and author of (2021), he described Sunday morning dim sum as “one big party,” that is “very happy, very high energy.”
