It’s a once a week, absolutely-every-week-that-we’re-there, tradition in Toronto. I’m talking about dim sum at lunch. Those wonderful little Chinese treats, steamed or fried, three or four to the serving, that date back to the 10th Century tea houses on the Silk Road in the province of Canton.
We’d only been back in San Miguel de Allende for three weeks but I was already suffering from separation anxiety. I wanted, I needed my dim sum.
Now we do have a Chinese restaurant in San Miguel. It’s called Dragon Chino. And it’s quite a good Chinese restaurant. But Dragon Chino doesn’t do dim sum. They do a few similar dishes including excellent pork or shrimp, steamed or fried dumplings but no haw gaw, no shu mai, none of those other dishes that I can’t spell.
I messaged Luis Vargas, the owner of Dragon Chino and, perhaps, the hardest working restauranteur in town. If I put together a group of twenty people, could he put together some off-menu items. Luis said, “I can and I will”.
I chose a Sunday because every day is a good day for dim sum but Sunday is a better day. Dim sum was probably the original Sunday brunch, savored centuries before the words “eggs benedict” ever came out of the mouth of a toque-topped Frenchman.
Luis and his wife Lili set up one long, communal table and we were on.
Now what came out of Chef Mario Santin’s kitchen last Sunday wasn’t exactly dim sum, wasn’t even really close to dim sum, but it was very, very special Chinese food.
There were two different fish, deep fried huichanango and rare (in this part of the world), steamed pompano.
There were stuffed razor clams and delicate baby squid sautéed in garlic.
There was chicken done two ways, steamed with choi and deep fried with orange zest and chiles.
There was very tasty duck served in three different ways that had us saying “why do we eat so much chicken and hardly ever eat duck?”
There were green beans that someone said were the best green beans ever.
There was a shredded beef salad, spring rolls, those pork and shrimp dumplings done in hand-rolled, not store-bought wrappers.
There was even a deep fried ice cream.
The in-restaurant sit-down business has been as tough for Dragon Chino lately as it has for other almost every other San Miguel restaurant.
“That’s the first time in over a year that we’ve pulled tables together”, Luis told me. “We’re lucky that such a big part of our business is takeout and delivery. I’ve still got four guys driving and, sometimes, I have to get out on a bike myself.
So if you’re planning on putting a reasonably big group together, at Dragon Chino or at your home, and you’d like some special, off-menu items, just give Luis Vargas adequate notice and I’m sure he’ll try to accommodate. And if you’re short a couple of extra guests, I think we’re free that day.
Dragon Chino is located at Salida a Celaya #71 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The restaurant is open from Noon to 8:00 pm, seven days a week.
Technically the Silk Road ended in Xian and didn’t get close to the Cantonese area but Hong Kong did have very good dim sum. Xian btw had very good and varied dim sum but a little different
Are smaller groups able to combine with others at the long table????
If you want to arrange to have some of those “special” off-menu dishes prepared by the restaurant, you’ll probably need to get a reasonably large group together and give the restaurant a few days notice.
oh boy–you got me dreaming about our group that went constantly for anybody’s birthday(we didn’t even have to know them!) to Golden Dragon (or was it Palace?) in Calgary’s Chinatown…there is nothing comparable here in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island..I’d kill for some real sticky rice. But Dragon Chino in SMA was pretty good!–missing SMA the last couple of years, but enjoying our RARE deep snow here the last few days, our Island is at a standstill–under that clinging snow, the first few shrubs were sporting spring pink flowers 2 days ago. Yesterday, a few hummingbirds flew up to my window and peeked in, staring at me like-what’s happening?
oops-forgot to mention how upsetting it was to see the chef there with mask down under his nose, breathing all over the food–eeek
My addiction to dim sum began when I moved to Manhattan directly from college in 1959 and has never waned in all these years. I’ve learned how to make dumplings , sesame noodles and egg rolls but not any of the endless dishes at a real Dim Sum restaurant. Nor will I ever, I fear. So thanks for sharing your discovery. It’s limited but a good start!
Stan Klein
Dragon Chino is the WORST food experience I have ever had in my life when it comes to Chinese food or vaguely Asian fusion. Is there anyone who is Chinese overseeing the kitchen or even cooking there? My experience was overcooked vegetables, canned vegetables or both. (go check out Trip Advisor reviews I am not the only one!)Some horrible Shrimp concoction that was made with SWEETENED condensed milk and coconut. Everything was greasy with tons of sugar. I seriously do not think anything close to a single piece of fresh ginger was used. I would also add that what could be vaguely called a “dumpling” was wayyyyyyyyyyyy to thick and greasy. I had my order delivered and this was in September of 2021