The Challenge: Dumplings Galore

In a city of vast and various dumpling offerings, a few stars shine through. Take Yank Sing, of the legendary sesame balls. It's a lovely experience, posh, downtown, and priced like it knows it. The waiters/cart pushers even wear little headsets, so when you make a special request for sticky rice, they'll radio it back in to command. The only thing is that you might want to think twice about is taking an actual Chinese person. Once I lunched there with my friend Shawn Chen, who appeared to be enjoying himself, up until the moment the check arrived. At which point, he (a financier, even!) exclaimed, "This is for dim sum?!"

Venture out into the avenues, however, and it's a different story. Thanks to the 7 x 7 challenge, another shining star has swum into my ken: Ton Kiang, of the outer Richmond. What's that you say? You don't want to trek to the Richmond for brunch? Me neither. Good job I have a friend with a car.

My friend Lily, owner of said vehicle, happens to be a vegetarian who is having second thoughts. I was surprised, to say the least, that she was up for dim sum. Dedicated fans know there is a lot of pork involved. Lily, however, required no cajoling whatsoever. Guns were not put to heads. When I invited her, I even offered an easy out, with an alternative of buttermilk pancakes at Zazie's. But no, she really wanted dim sum. She was downright gung ho, proclaiming happily, "I'm going to eat meat today," as we stepped into the car.

On first inspection, the Richmond looks like a lovely residential neighborhood. We parked fairly easily, and strolled past a cute playground, as well as an abundance of nail salons. I'm not going to live there, due to its deal-breaking distance from major cultural events such as the Nordstrom sale. But what Ton Kiang lacks in centrality of location, it makes up for in an avalanche of little pork buns. Of this I assure you. For roughly FIFTEEN DOLLARS EACH--you heard me--one can have barbecue pork, steamed shrimp and scallops, shu mai, and spring rolls galore!!

Eat meat we most certainly did. Loads of it! It was lovely! Lily had just gotten a fancy new camera for her birthday, so we shamelessly snapped pictures, and chatted, and munched, and sipped tea, and the plates swung around, and they said, "Would you like such-and-such," and we said, "Yes, please!" and "Absolutely!" At one point Lily even had to restrain me from ordering a turnip cake. We were on a roll. I felt like a stuffed little dumpling when I left, and I had the most delicious of pork-induced naps that afternoon.

I like this version of dim sum. A little less decorum, a little more reckless abandon.