Helal Dim Sum

These are words that just don't belong together. Helal describes the set of dietary rules followed by pracitioners of Islam. The laws are similar to kosher in many ways, and likely stemmed from practices to ensure good hygiene in pre-refrigerator days. And, like kosher, helal stipulates no consumption of pork. Dim sum, of course, is that style of Chinese small plate dishes that is so popular for lunches in Hong Kong.

My favorite entries on the dim sum menu involve pork in some way. You can see where I'm going with this. After the big meeting for which I was flown to Malaysia, the members of the presentation team went out for dim sum. But to cater to the Muslim inhabitants of Malaysia, the restaurant is helal. My favorite steamed pork buns? Honey-barbecued chicken. Siu mai? Also chicken. But to be honest, I couldn't tell the difference.

No, this doens't mean I'm going soft on my consumption of pork products (I'll be back home Wednesday, thank you very much), it's just a testament to the culinary skill of the chefs at this establishment. So cunning are they, that they can fool even a pork lover like myself. I got to sample many of my favorites: deep fried taro balls, pan-fried daikon, siu mai, steamed pork buns, sticky rice, even sesame balls with red bean paste! There were only two of my favorites missing: shrimps in glass noodle, and those little trefoil things filled with shrimp, green onion and cilantro. But what I did have was so tasty!