Marinated duck’s tongues are finger lickin’ good and can be found at Dynasty Chinese Cuisine (131 Bloor Street West) or The Grand (655 Dixon Road, Etobicoke), the later serving them encased in aspic with wolfberries.

This is the second part of a series dedicated to dim sum. In part 1 dishes served in steamed wrappings were featured. This post will focus on the bites that are braised, baked and fried. So grab a cup of tea and be prepared for another feast.

Alternatives for conservative appetites: Chiu chow style tofu and egg is a delicious and hearty appetizer. This one was from Golden Leaf Chinese Cuisine Restaurant (closed).

Braising is another great way to prepare staple ingredients in new and tasty ways, and this option has not been neglected by dim sum restaurants. The delicious results can transform a bland brick of tofu into velvety soy-stained slices, pre-fried crispy beancurd sheets into flavour-packed mockmeats, and scary looking duck tongues into impeccable treats.

From left: Q’s vegetarian stuffed bamboo fungus; super juicy beef belly & turnip from Dynasty; and stuffed fish maw with shrimp from Golden Leaf.

They may sound scary but beef stomach, duck’s tongue (top of post), fish maw, and bamboo fungus are delicacies that excite those with traditional palates. The textures are beyond description and warrant an order before any judgement is placed. Furthermore, they act as sponges, sopping up incredible flavours that are only revealed when bitten into. In the same way baby octopus may look like alien spawns, but are incredibly addictive. Just make sure that first taste is from a well sauced plate like that from Q Dim Sum Palace (365 King Street West), unlike the bland and very common version that appears to be stained with Yellow No. 5.

Dim sum creates a new opportunity to try ingredients that might make one squeamish. Besides, what better way to introduce a new taste than when it can be ordered in small portions large enough to be shared or small enough to be picked at?

Baby octopus in curry sauce from Q’s kitchen. These tender yet chewy bodies are bathed in a viscous blend of aromatic spices.

Clockwise from top left: deep-fried pork, ginger & scallions dumpling and deep-fried taro paste in puff pastry shell are from Lai Wah Heen (108 Chestnut Street); deep fried squid are beyond addictive from Liu’s 1 Restaurant; Q takes the popular stuffed crab claw with minced shrimp from banquets and offers them to diners at dim sum.

Frying is a popular option for small bites, and can be found at non-traditional dim sum houses such as Liu’s 1 Restaurant (Unit 29, 3255 Highway 7 East, Markham). Although many items listed on the menu are deep-fried, the small tastes and portion sizes negate all sense of guilt. Some treats are rolled in a thin coating of flour before taking a quick swim in a bath of hot oil; some take the dunk and are steamed with sauce before service. Beside the crispness imparted by the thin coating shielding the moist innards of the treasures hidden within, there’s also something soothing about being able to drink hot tea after each bite to cut through the grease.

A rainbow of dessert items can be found at dim sum. For those looking to stay true to their heart, steamed sponge or thousand layered cakes, mango pudding drizzled with carnation milk, baked bbq pork buns, or a personal fave, homemade tofu pudding (aka “tofu fa”) particularly those served with ginger syrup are lunch time staples. But please avoid the circulating bowls of gelatine desserts. These deceptive jiggly jellies are often topped with a paper umbrella look innocent but are anything but. If anything these florescent gelatine cubes seem to be made of rubber and taste nothing like the boxed versions of a recognizable brand name. Save your stomach for any of the items listed below.

A thousand layers of joy. Clockwise from top left: the author’s favourite baked mini puff pastry turnover with cured ham, shrimp and pork from Lai Wah Heen; Dynasty’s oven baked turnip pastry; and bite-sized mini egg custard tart from Lai Wah Heen.

Nothing can compare to the feeling of biting into something with a super flaky crust. The way the pastry shatters into a million pieces in the mouth before reaching the sinful filling is unparallelled. Be it sweet or savoury, stuffed with taro paste, red bean paste, mango custard, barbeque pork, chicken and mushrooms or sautéed turnip, baked pastries are sure to be a hit. A must for any dim sum dining expedition is the ever popular egg custard tart - where the advantage of being half the size of their bakery cousins is a perfect crust-to-custard ratio.

Tasty surprises. Clockwise from top left: crispy sesame balls filled with fresh fruit and golden buns with golden custard are both hot desserts straight out of Empire Court’s deep fryer. Book an appointment with a cardiologist before sampling these addictive treats.

Not neglecting the beloved fryer, desserts can also be transformed into scrumptious golden beauties. At Empire Court (8500 Warden Avenue, Markham), fried buns are filled with coconut-y custard or fried plain to be served with a dish of condensed milk are worthy of dreams. Glutinous rice balls that are coated with a layer of aromatic sesame seeds and fried into crispy orbs hide delicious black sesame paste or fresh fruit treasures. Even more interesting are deep fried milk cubes. Sounding like mission impossible, these crispy bricks dissolve on impact in the mouth into a lightly sweetened milky pudding.

Non-traditional dim sum, a signature at Susur. Spectacular desserts are served as sweet dim sum for tasting menu diners. Clockwise from top left: black sesame filled rice ball with coconut milk and tapioca; mango and jackfruit mousse cake; chocolate cake with a hazelnut filling with cream; strawberry jelly with cranberry sauce; tangerine coulis with passionfruit juice; rice cake (”lee goh”) topped with red beans and vanilla bean ice cream.

Dim sum is not exclusive to Chinese restaurants. As noted above, dessert houses such as Liu’s 1 Restaurant or restaurants like East (240 Queen Street West) offer small bites to supplement their menu. Even Toronto’s celebrity chefs embrace the concept of the dim sum small bite. Centro Restaurant & Lounge (2472 Yonge Street) is know to serve dim sum in the lower-lever lounge, while Susur Lee presents tasting menu diners with an eclectic collection of sweets in the dessert dim sum platter at his namesake restaurant Susur (601 King Street West).

From steamed to fried, savoury to sweet, small bites to the substantial, dim sum offers diners a world of possibilities right at the tips of their chopsticks. After taking that first step into a dim sum tea house, the challenge then becomes in stepping out of the comfort zone to order those strange sounding items. Deep inside there’s a chicken feet lover in all of us, perhaps they just need to be lured out by the scent of an egg custard tart.

Renée Suen is a graduate student at the University of Toronto, specializing in cardiovascular sciences. She has an insatiable appetite and can often be found searching for something tasty to eat with her camera. Many of these culinary discoveries can be found on her Flickr site.