Sunday, September 03, 2006

Dim Sum Detective : The Affair of the Missing Fishball

Unavoidably woken up at some ungodly hour by an emergency call, all I could think after I'd effectively dealt with that case was MEAT.

Seriously. Hot sinfully delicious meat - and since I didn't need to dial-up some crotchety old man for some gruff sex talk or depend on downloaded gay porn anymore with the availability of Charming Calvin, I made for his cosy pied-a-terre as soon as I was done, surprising him bleary and half-awake at his doorstep. More than a little bashful at the sudden brash intrusion and balking at my testosterone-and-caffeine-fueled ardour, poor Calvin was utterly non-plussed but gave in easily to my advances after little persuasion.

The man knew what I wanted and it didn't take much to have him talking. Which is how we ended up together searching every available nook and cranny along the highways and the byways for this. 點心. Or more commonly known as dim sum of course.

Where is the dimsum!
The mystery is afoot

Although the man cried out under my wicked methods of torture that he didn't know of any depraved hives of dim sum activity, I knew that there had to be one somewhere close. Since Calvin lived in what I'd recently termed Ah Beng Central, it was impossible to imagine that the mini chinatown enclave didn't have a single joint capable of seating gangs of bored retired uncles in their beat-up singlets and shorts and the desperate housewives set after their regular morning marketing. And let's face it, where else could the nefarious ah bengs go after their late night intrigues - peddling pirated booty, maiming unfortunate victims and shagging indiscriminate ah lians?

After taking a slow drive around the unsavoury neighbourhood, the scent of hot tea, steaming century egg porridge and fragrant steamed pork dumplings immediately drew us close to the notorious dim sum dealers and it wasn't long before we were willingly sucked into the decadent pleasures of the meat. Previously an occasional salad-nibbler, poor Calvin has had to adapt quickly to my voracious ( and frequently depraved ) carnivorous appetites. Ever the good Hakka boy though, Calvin struggled his way through some heavy lotus leaf rice while I - unburdened with his genes - dug in several plates of siu maai and pork ribs with much gusto.

Have always loved going for dim sum in the morning - nothing like just being deliberately lazy whiling away the time with the sunday papers and nibbling little bits of delicate pastry while waiting for the hot tea to cool.

If only I could get up that early during most weekends of course. :)

24 comments:

Patrick said...

I like dimsum buffet in the morning too. Imagine all you can eat mouth watering har gao, siu mai, egg tart, yong tau fu, loh mai kai.. six type of different desserts ...and a list of side dishes like frog congee, fried carrot cake, honey dear meat, fried rice and etc...the most important is all you can eat for only RM25.

Dave said...

Dim Sum in Malaysia...woo...to die for. Once had dim sum for breakfast in Penang and it is utterly sinful. Sinful yet delicious...

Forget about the calories and cholestrol. Just indulge yaself in dim sum buffet for once. If one still one to count the amount of calories and cholestrol for dim sum, go eat grass then.

hrugaar said...

Dim sum counts as breakfast food, and I love all breakfast food! :oP

We have all-day breakfast places here, would help if they could serve dim sum all day as well. :o)

nyonyapenang said...

there are many places serving dimsum past noon, so there is no need for you to haul yourself up early to enjoy the spoils.
mmmm.... utterly sinful, i agree!

Anonymous said...

me lurve "siow bee"!!! especially the one with the black crispy fungus! yummy! let's have dim sum someday!

Sue said...

I heart steamed pork buns!

Musang said...

hmmm. now i know that dim sum can be eat early morning too. not just during dinners.

i love the chicken flavour. the fish. the phoenix eyes. and a few others that i don't remember what they are called but ordered based on the numbers and pictures in the menu.

but how can one find halal dim sum early morning? susah la.

*nangis*

ikanbilis said...

i don't eat pork so i don't eat dimsum.. =P

Petie said...

Dinner (or breakfast??) with bf... That's what I miss in my life :'(

Anonymous said...

Ooo...dim sums!!! Love them! Can't get any in Sibu (Sarawak); Foochows here don't go those teeny-weeny stuff!! Must be big! Hokkein says: "Ai chni, ai phi, ai tua liap ni" (Fresh, cheap and big boobs!) KK got one place "FookPing" (Sounds obscene, ya?). The ha-kau bigger than golf balls and inside u see at least a dozen whole prawns...! Ooo heavenly! Going KK coming weekend, and guess where u can catch me!!! Ha ha ha!

confusticated said...

love the dim sum, but i don't like the maggoty shrimp. fishcakes!

executorlouis said...

Century egg porridge! Gives me that warm fuzzy feeling to kickstart my day! =p

Anonymous said...

Dim Sum is rarity here in Sarawak, miss the great spread you get in KL....

and what is a certain someone doing in here anyway? Pest! Thought he doesn't like a QV infested blog, well, QV has been infesting this blog for a while already.....

Las montañas said...

when i saw the fat from a frozen plate of siu mai, i immediately thought of a clogged artery.

Its back to the gym! huff huff puff puff.

MrBunnyBan said...

Dim sum = stomach upset for me. Urghhh...

William said...

I miss the Dim Sum at Shangri-La. Heavenly at RM9 per serving. Maybe coz I wasn't paying...

Anonymous said...

Mouth already watering - just reading your post - 'cos I keep getting those yummy dim sums in my mind. LOL

ash said...

i had my dim sum fix last weekend, so yea, not really jeles or anything. ;) All these while reading your blog, this struck me. Where in god's world did u get your pictures!?!?!? Oh my effing god! All the good looking good quality and hot bod gods! You gotta teach me! I'll be your willing apprentice. Just show me master!=p

Anonymous said...

lol. hog!
;-)

Xavier said...

if u like porridge type, there's a place in section 14 roughly opposite the TGI friday, corner terest house/foodstall, sells very good "teng chai chok" little boat porridge.

creamy, with a lot of steamed peanuts, cuttle fish etc etc and etc.

give that a try, healthy and taste could walk hand in hand :)

Anonymous said...

And I was wondering why I'm getting fatter everyday...

savante said...

Ooh, you are making me hungry again, patrick!

Seriously? I always loved the one in Hong Kong but the ones we have here are great too :) Haven't had dim sum in penang tho since I'm too busy eating everything else.

All day breakfast sounds great just about now, ru!

Where where where! i wanna go, nyonya!

siow bee? What's that, sharon?

Steamed pork buns are what I take when I travel, sue!

True enough.. not easy finding halal dim sum in the mornings, musang.

Ikan bilis..There is halal dim sum as musang said. Usualyl in the hotels.

Paul

savante said...

g_c, feel hungry again? Eat more dumplings!

True, pete. No argument there :)

Hey, I'm actually Foochow too, suituapui :P And I know what you mean about the large sizes.

Don't like the fishcakes too, confusticated.

Ooh, I love century eggs, louis. Wish we had more here at work.

No dim sum in Sarawak? Seriously, quavadis? What pest?

Las montanas? Gym... eeeks!

Stomach upset, bunny? How the heck does that happen?

RM9 isn't exactly cheap, william :)

I am thinking about it right now too, jemima.

Get my pictures all over, ash.

:) Closetalk.

Jauhnya, xavier.

Bwahahahah, calvin.

Paul

nemesis-on-fire said...

Paul:

2 places i love to go for dim sum:

Jln Ipoh and Sri Petaling.

btw, for the foochows living in KL and missing foochow food. The Sri Petaling dim sum place is run by Foochows and they serve genuine 'red rice wine mee suah' and 'red rice wine chicken/ fish/ meat' and it's BLOODY GOOD! i swear! :D btw, 'siow bee' is 'siu mai' in hokkien. hehe

oh, suituapui: ai chi, ai phi, ai tua liap ni, u forgot: yu be sai khia low pi (and cannot stand by road side) BWAHAHAHA.... i know that one! that's what happens growing up with boys ;)