Let's get dipping - Dim sum at Imperial China

As part of an inspiration trip for work we went out to discover the joys of dipping food so went to have brainstorm at a dim sum restaurant in china town. We choose Imperial China due to the great reviews on the web. It is a quite a big restaurant but as it is tucked away from the main street it feels like a little oasis of stereotypical china - koi carp swim under a little bridge and red wooden gazebo.

We started with some jasmine tea whilst we choose from the quite extensive menu.

Some of the dishes were quite a surprise but we also went for some well loved classics such as the sticky spare ribs with meat that just fell from the bone and a sauce that was the right side of sweet. The crispy squid was in one of the lightest batter I have ever tasted and the squid was perfectly seasoned and cooked so not rubbery.

The char sui bus were light and fluffy and the meat inside sweet and soft.

We went for some traditional pork dim sum and sticky rice with meat wrapped in a leaf which adds a tobacco flavour to the dish.

The more unusual dishes were the parsnip cake with stir fried vegetables. Little chunks of parsnip are lightly fried but they have a jelly-like consistency and a slight mustardy flavour. The texture and taste were not really for me and I would not try again but my friend enjoyed them immensely.

We also tried a black sesame paste dumplings with peanut topping, these were really unusual and almost too sweet to served with the main meal as they felt like a pudding but I loved them. Inside was a gooey nutty paste surrounded by a light soft casing similar in texture to the inside of a fruit pastille! And then coated in coconut and topped with peanuts - delicious.

All of which was served with a chilli dipping sauce and soy sauce. I am not sure how much it helped the project directly but it definitely freed our brains and set us up for an afternoon of further research and brainstorming!