With a couple of exceptions, these oysters I was served in Vancouver’s Chinatown this past summer were the largest I have ever see, let alone eaten. Even having them steamed was something of a novelty for me as when I manage to get fresh ones from time to time, I usually can’t bear to do anything with them but eat them raw.

Anyway, you get a pretty good idea of the scale of these things from the above picture. You may also be able to tell, if you look closely, that each pair of oysters is prepared in a slightly different way. Gain Wah, the restaurant where I was served these, lets you select from three different styles. I went with all three… Continue reading “Notable Nosh: Steamed Oysters” →

I have featured the above item as a ‘Notable Nosh’ because it was a little unusual and not at all a typical dim sum selection. The Chinese name on the menu did indeed indicate ‘Crab Meat Dumpling’, but the character for dumpling was referred to “Jiao’, which tend to be made with wheat flour and have certain standard forms. The ones pictured above, however, have the typical ‘Shu Mai’ shape but they are not that sort of dumpling either since the wrapper is the same translucent, rice-flour type you see in Har Gow.

Anyway, the dumplings did indeed contain crab meat (the real sort, not imitation) and there were some nice chunks along with the more finely minced flesh. There was some sort of chopped green vegetable in there too (not sure what) and a little touch of Coriander leaf, which I don’t generally care for but which was in small enough amount here that I didn’t mind it. The only problem with these dumplings was that they were a little too large for a single mouthful but were exceedingly difficult to manipulate with chopsticks. The filling would pop out of the wrapper and the wrapper tore very easily making it a bit of a messy operation all around. They were tasty but not well executed construction-wise. Interesting though…