es, since they have been fried and must remain crisp. Deftly the girl wields a pair of scissors to crunch through the crust and divide the rolls into chunks manageable by chopsticks. How about some shrimp wrap-lings? These, being steamed, come in covered baskets. The girl lifts the cover for you to see, and there, like pearl-white eggs in a swallow's nest, are three or four shrimp wrapped in a rice mixture so thin to be almost transparent.
Each basket or dish contains three or four mouthfuls of delicacies, collectively known as dim-sum, and except for a few casseroles and cold dishes, invariably steamed or fried. Waiters stack the dishes and baskets at one side of your table as you alternately eat, chat, and sip.
One can easily spend an hour or more in this manner, chatting, sipping and sampling the wares that each new waitress brings. Let us see what is in this basket. Open the cover, please. Oh, so that's what cha-siu-bao (pork dumplings) looks like. Yes, I think I'll take a basket. Or how about some siu-mai—shrimp and minced meat steamed in another rice wrapping?
I really think I've had enough, you say, eyeing the growing stack of dishes and baskets. Oh, no, do try another; they aren't very filling. And so it goes. No need to agonize over menus, wondering what your host is going to order and whether you dare ask for filet mignon. No waiter lifting a disapproving eyebrow when you've made the wrong choice. Just a pleasant conversation with your friends and a moment now and then to sample a dish or a basket. You may even try Western dishes―a macaroni casserole, or a lemon tart.
When you have had your fill and are ready to leave, the waiter will simply count the number of baskets and dishes on your table and give you a slip of paper adding up the total.
Like as not, the girls will still be circulating when you leave, calling out new wares, and it will take real self-control to resist uncovering* one more basket—just to see what is inside. Meat 'balls a la contonaise? Better leave something for tomorrow, though. Thank you, and come again.
SPECIALIZING
In
Individually Proportioned Sizes to Fit the Petite Figure
Phone MUhial 4-1487-1488 Now In Our 30th Year
CHINATOWN NEWS. FEB. 18. 1963