CANTONESE dim sum is famous for its variety - there are more than 1,000 recorded recipes for the delectable bite-sized snacks and many recipes are not recorded. Creative chefs today develop their own dim sum, aiming for interesting taste and tasteful presentation.

Dim sum can use every imaginable ingredient prepared in very possible way, steamed, deep-fried, simmered, roasted.

Dim sum is typically served in small bamboo steamer baskets or on small plates, just three or four in a portion. Dim sum carts may be rolled around a dining room, allowing guests to select dishes; in other restaurants diners order from menus.

Dim sum style

Serving small, bite-sized portions can be traced back to the southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). It is said that a female general named Liang Hongyu ordered pastries prepared to show her appreciation of her soldiers' courage in battle. But due to a food shortage, the dishes could only be made in small sizes.

"These food express a little of my kind regards," Liang is reported to have said.

"A little" in Cantonese is called "dim," while "kind regards" is called "sum."

Dim sum fare is famous for dumplings, buns, rolls, cakes, from savory to sweet, and many other treats.

Nowadays, dim sum still remains small in size but presentation is becoming more elaborate, delicate and colorful.

"Color pairing is a main consideration when making dim sum. Some bright colors such as green, yellow and red are believed to stimulate the diner's appetite," according to Scottie Zhou, food and beverage director at Pullman Shanghai Skyway. This explains why green mung beans, shelled corn, red pork, purple taro and pink shrimp are popularly used in Cantonese dim sum either as decoration or main ingredients.

Ingredients are generally various types of seafood and vegetables, due to the warm, humid climate in Guangdong Province, which has a long coastline, according to Leon Liang, Chinese kitchen executive chef at Shanghai Marriott Hotel Luwan.

"The Cantonese pastry chef is probably one of the few in China paying attention to yin-yang balance in making dim sum," says chef Liang, a native of Guangzhou.

For health reasons, foods with yin (cold) characteristics, such as water chestnut and lotus seed, are added in summer; in winter, foods with a yang (warm) nature, such as red beans and jujubes, are added in winter.

Cantonese cuisine is very light and not heavily seasoned, since chefs emphasize the natural flavor of ingredients. Thus, dim sum is also very light, especially steamed dishes.

Unique serving

Cantonese dim sum is always served with Chinese tea, usually Oolong tea or Pu-erh tea. Hence, in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province, serving dim sum is also called yum cha, which means drinking tea.

Customers typically first drink a cup of tea and then order dim sum and drink more tea. Teacups are constantly filled by waiters.

"This unique serving tradition is partly due to Guangdong's climate, which is hot all year. People sweat easily, so they need to drink more tea to hydrate their body," chef Liang says.

Serving dim sum with tea is also healthy since tea breaks down fat.

"Some fried or baked dim sum are a little greasy while lard is often added in to various steamed dumplings to add more fragrance. Those red tea can rinse the fat from the food out of the body," chef Liang says.

There are two basic ways to order Cantonese dim sum: in some restaurants, dim sum is served on trolleys, in others diners order from menus, checking the boxes for dishes they want.

Sometimes, it's hard to choose from so many dim sum. Chef Liang offers basic advice.

In the world of Cantonese dim sum, there are "four heavenly kings," dishes that demonstrate a chef's skills and to some extent the excellence of the restaurant. They are xiajiao (shrimp dumplings), shao mai (a kind of pork dumpling), feng zhua (steamed chickens' feet) and pai gu (steamed pork rib).

"If you don't know how to order, then order those four," the chef recommends.

The order of serving is also important and influences the tasting experience, Zhou from Pullman Shanghai Skyway points out. Tasting from light to heavy is recommended; that is, first ordering seafood and vegetable dim sum and then moving on to pork and other meat.

Tasting from mild steamed dim sum to deep-fried dishes is recommended. Tasting from salty to sweet is also a good way to ensure the best taste experience.

This week, we visit two restaurants offering classical dim sum as well as innovative dim sum with "modern" taste, while preserving the essence of tradition.

Blue Moon

Shanghai Marriott Hotel Luwan

The restaurant has launched a weekend brunch dim sum buffet (188 yuan/US$30 plus 15 percent per person) including around 70 kinds of Cantonese dim sum together with Cantonese congee and noodles. Three signature dim sum are recommended.

Cha shao su, a kind of baked puff pastry filled with barbecued pork, has a shiny yellow skin and an ingot-like shape. It's crispy and flaky outside, with a smooth filling and represents quality flake pastry. Based on traditional recipes, chef Liang adds broth decocted from chicken, duck and ham into the pork filling so that each bite is tasty and fatty but not greasy.

Chang fen you tiao, deep-fried dough, is wrapped in a rice roll layered with sauce and has pleasing textures. The rice wrapper is soft and smooth with a certain biting texture while the inside is crispy. The roll is dipped in sauce before eating.

Shao mai is a kind of finger-sized dumpling with pork inside and a yellow outer covering topped with orange crab roe for decoration. Chef Liang fills the dumpling with a mixture of shrimp and pork, which has a tender, bouncy texture and a bit of sweetness.

The menu lists all dim sum. Customers order the traditional way, using a pencil to tick off what they want.

Hours: Saturday and Sunday, 11:30am-2:30pm

Tel: 5318-8888

Address: 2/F, 99 Jiangbin Rd

Hua Fu

Pullman Shanghai Skyway

A daily dim sum buffet (108 yuan plus 15 percent) features 14 kinds of steamed dim sum and 13 fried varieties served from a trolley.

The xia jiao, or steamed shrimp dumpling, Cantonese egg tart, and feng zhua, or steamed chicken feet, are highlights.

Xia jiao is a representative of Cantonese dim sum. Plump pink shrimp is visible through its thin and translucent skin, which is firm enough not to break when picked up with chopsticks. It has round nine pleats in the dough wrapping, a high number that is seen by many gourmands as a sign of quality. This is because the number of pleats indicates how much meat is being wrapped, which influences the final tastes.

The dumpling can be either eaten directly from the plate or dipped in soy sauce.

Cantonese egg tart is a fusion of Western and Eastern dining cultures. Being somewhat similar to English custard tarts and Portuguese pasteis de nata, this egg tart has round flaky wrapping around milky, pudding-like filling. However, it's made with lard rather than butter used in English custard. It's mildly sweet and less creamy than Portuguese pasteis de nata.

Feng zhua, steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce, has a shiny dark red color, rich flavor and tender, somewhat gelatinous texture due to its collagen content.

Since the chicken feet have been deep fried and then simmered in sauce, it's easy to chew the soft bones and skin and spit out the hard bones - all the while sucking the flavorful black bean sauce, which is spicy and pungent.

Hours: Daily, 11:30am-2pm

Tel: 3318-9988 ext 7777

Address: 3/F, 15 Dapu Rd