 This is one of those things that just sets you up, man. Of any dish, I feel like everybody's just got to sit there and just enjoy it. Dim sum is a style of Cantonese cuisine where everything is served in small portions. Most people have it with their families on the weekends, and although there are some high-end spots and low-end spots, the recipes probably haven't changed much in 30 years, until now. Chef Tony Dim sum is trying to elevate the art of yum-tah. Of course, it's more expensive, but is it worth the extra price? A lot of people out there are skeptical at the idea of elevated Cantonese food in America, including us, so let's find out. This is my first time at Chef Tony Dim sum in Pasadena. A personal opinion, something I saw that was different, was the way that it was presented. It's kind of like a more elevated dim sum experience, and the coconut buddies caught my eye, so I was like, telling you about this. Chef Tony Dim sum definitely reached me, so I definitely feel like, in terms of demographics, it's kind of pushing the envelope in terms of who it is reaching. David, we got all the dim sum. They're doing some really cool things while keeping it very traditional. For example, here, Andrew, look at the hakao. The black squid ink hakao with gold leaf, truffle shiomai, pandan bao, hakao with chili oil inside. Yeah, you can't see how different that is. That one's going to taste really different. David, this is a mushroom pastry with the yin and the yang. And then, David, this one is actually a dish I haven't had. Chinese doughnut with shrimp paste inside and mayonnaise on top. Andrew, round one here at Chef Tony's. We have the elevated dim sum dishes. David, I'm so excited to try. Oh my gosh, this is a squid ink hakao with a gold flake on top. You guys know what the gold flake does. It just adds that pop. Dim sum, sometimes the stuff is stir fried, but obviously most well known for high labor intensive steamed dishes. Okay, so David, as we eat this, we're going to be comparing it to the traditional version of this dish that we've had before. This is the squid ink hakao with gold flakes on top. Mm, that's good. Right off the bat, I taste the truffle and the squid ink. It's very light. I don't taste the gold, but you're not supposed to. That's good. Okay, that's good. Right off the bat, that was good. The original hakao doesn't have the truffle flavor and it doesn't have the slight squid ink, which to me, squid ink and truffle kind of somewhat similar. But I think they did a good job. The squid ink, you can really feel it. Sometimes you get squid ink wrappers or squid ink noodles and the animals can't taste the thing. They did a good job with this. All right, I need you to try the black squid ink. Fire. Fire. You said John described it. Fire, you're too pretty. Yeah! Hey, they canceled culture and as self-possessed, but let's bring it in! Andrew, I'm not saying people are basic here, but would you say for a lot of beginning dim sum eaters, the Shilma is their absolute favorite? It has so many different elements to it. It has the open top dumpling, it has shrimp, usually mushroom, pork. Shilma with truffle. As you guys can see, there's truffle on top right. There's shrimp, pork, mixture in the middle. So I usually think that sometimes truffle is a not so cheap trick to making something feel high end, but it definitely does add something different because that whole truffle flavor is not something you get in Asian cooking a lot. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed that Shilma a lot. The way they broke down the fibers of the pork, it was very easy to eat. First two things here at Chef Tony Gimsum were baton. Pretty good. The squid ink lava bow. David, here we can expect, you know, your classic salted egg yolk filling that's gonna be oozing out of a squid ink bun. I'm excited, man. I mean, just visually, you know, nowadays everything has to be so Instagrammable. Steamed lava bow with salted egg yolk. Very striking the egg yolk color behind the squid ink. Oh, I'm eating that whole thing, man. Oh man, that's good. This is one of those things that just sets you up, man. I swear to God, like, of any dish, I feel like everybody's just gotta sit there and just enjoy it. You're shooting three for three. Three for three from the field. Obviously this spot is significantly more expensive than your average Gimsum spot. Man, it is an experience so far. They got mushroom crystal dumplings. Wow, I'm excited about this one. I wonder if there's any sort of like beet juice or anything that we're gonna be able to taste that's in this red crystal wrap. Crystal mushroom dumpling. For the vegetarians. Light. I think that that was the first one for me where it wasn't hitting, but I'm not gonna go against the quality. The quality is there. It just wasn't for my taste buds. Man, that was clean tasting. And I know that here at Chef Tony Gimsum, one of the goals was to make Gimsum even cleaner. Because it's really not supposed to be greasy. Traditionally, sometimes it's not supposed to be greasy. I think it's the original regular hot cow, but there's supposedly some chili oil inside, so I'm not gonna dip it first. This is the crystal shrimp dumpling hot cow. Original hot cow is so clean and just so tasty. And you know what I love about it too is I'm not gonna lie guys, obviously we're at an expensive spot. The cheap spots that you use a lot of filler to fill up the hot cow. This ain't your average Gimsum spot. It is not. Woo! I've liked everything. Here at Chef Tony, they're switching up the recipes 10 to 25%. David, next, I gotta talk about. David, this is the shrimp and pork pan fried pandan bun. The biggest thing for me investigating this elevated cancel dish is how much pandan flavor is really involved. It kinda tastes a little bit like coconut. That's what I would compare it to right off the bat for anybody who hasn't had a pandan or pandan. Try the pandan bun. I could tell when I was biting into it, I was smelling the pandan first and then I hit the pork and shrimp. That's good. I like that bun. I'd like to see even more pandan. I'd like to see them shake it up. One more dive of pandan. Okay. I mean it's clearly elevated here. Yo, the Gimsum's elevated. By all means, it is elevated. Shrimp crab and matzutake crystal dumpling. What I love, man, is just like biting into an unassuming dumpling and just getting all that flavor that you're like, whoa, I didn't expect it. It's a crystal dumpling. I agree with you that some of the stuff here at Chef Tony's has been unassuming visually, but it has come with the flavor. I've never had Gimsum that tasted like this before in my life. And I've been to a ton of places. I think we gotta get into the phone towel, Andrew. Oh my gosh, I'm a big fan. Bungzao a.k.a. the Phoenix Claws. So right off the bat visually, I wouldn't say it looks super different. They cut it open. Okay. Definitely less greasy than that one. There's no corn starch in it. Quality-wise, very high. Flavor-wise, pretty traditional. White-colored chicken feet. All right, so this one's the full one. It's gonna feel a little bit more like gelatin. Ooh, I grabbed that chili cake. Most people do not order this. I recommend it. I love spicy wontons, man. Spicy wontons? I'm gonna say it's more of a Shanghainese dish. Oh, the wonton is gonna be more plump. Like the meatball in it is gonna be bigger. Spicy wonton. Mm, love that sauce. You know me, I like that sweet vinegar flavor. Very plump, big wonton. Shanghainese wonton, it's much more flowy, much more pillowy. It has more skin on it. It has more skin on it. The Cantonese wontons tend to be a little bit more packed, tightly shrimp-portable. David, we have a couple pastries here that have been waiting on us. And perhaps some people would say you guys waited far too long to have this. Because, you know for some people, and it's straight shiomai, cha-shu bao, straight off the rib. French-style cha-shu bao. Wow, oh my God. That crystal, oh, Bagua layer, has a big impact, whoa. Wait, did this long to eat this one? John, I might need to see you try this, man. This is a task for Mr. John the Pounder. This is how good it is. We had to flip the camera out. Ah, that's insane. Enter, enter. I've gotta save this for John over here. This remaining three-fourths of that. John, it's coming for you. And let me just tell you guys, if you come here to Chef Tony Dips of it, absolutely get the French-style cha-shu bao. Yin-Yang mushroom pastry. To me, I gotta say, the mushroom, the pastry and the mushroom dumpling weren't my favorite, but I could see if you're vegetarian, go for it. Fried Chinese donut stuffed with shrimp paste and mayonnaise on top. Let's get it. Interestingly enough, some honey walnut prawn vibes. This is like a way to get honey walnut prawns without ordering honey walnut prawns. Wow. I'm gonna dip it in some soy sauce. Wow, I feel like Kobe White. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow, bro. That's crazy. Wow, that was good. Wow. Chicken bun. Oh, I smell the ginger scowl. And you know, there is a very strong ginger scowl in the mixture. If you know, you know. Chicken buns at dim sum, usually pretty boring. You just said chicken bun. I was like, eh, cracked it open. I was excited. That is a very gurney, gurney chicken bun. Baby, just gurney, you guys, by the way, is ginger. I'm just saying that's a very gingery, gingery scowling. Best chicken bun I've ever had, swear to God, because I don't even like the chicken bun at dim sum. Best chicken bun I've ever had. All right, David, we are moving on to round two, lunch slash somewhat dinner food. Yeah. Probably the transition dish that we should start off with are the fried egg rolls. Do them differently here, guys. Semi-influenced by the Japanese style. And this is a deep fried seaweed with shrimp spring roll. I really enjoyed that. Wow, that was good. Well, for me, David, I'm usually not impressed by spring rolls and egg rolls, to be honest. That one was good. I was fired. I think more people gotta do the fried spring rolls this style. That was good. We have the deep fried crispy king prawns. David, you know why I'm excited to eat this. I'm gonna eat everything, the head and the tail. Honestly, the head got the most flavor. I love eating this style of shrimp, man. Eat the entire thing 100%. You get maximum shrimp flavor when you eat it like this, with the head on it, the shell on it. I'll even eat the tail. I'm out. Yeah. Here I have the squid ink with crab meat and gold leaf on top. They are just stacking on the trends here. Squid ink noodles with lobster meat. David, predictions, which one do you think is gonna be better? Oh, that's a good question. Crab meat has more flavor, but sometimes to contrast with the noodles texture-wise, the lobster's gonna be stronger. That was really, really, really good. Luckily, I am lobster claw type of guy. I've got my decision. Say ours at the same time. Three, two, one, the lobster. The lobster one tasted better because the lobster flavor just blended better with the squid ink. I don't know why. I'm not a chef. I didn't go to culinary school. I'm sure somebody who was better trained on this topic could explain to you. Say no more, bro. Say no more. That was squid ink is like, man, it's really tough to explain how it tastes. I would say that squid ink tastes kind of like a clam kind of just like ocean-y. I've got to say, Andrew, the food was elevated. No cap. This is the black truffle over chicken with cilantro and onion. Boom. They have cooked this like the house special chicken guai-fei guy or the ginger scallion, white chicken, bazi guy. Don't disappoint me. I wish the chicken piece could have been a little bit fattier, a little bit juicier, but other than that, the flavor was there and I've never had that flavor mixed with boxy kind of. A truffle flavor on that particular one was a little bit lighter than I thought, but I think that's okay because the cilantro and the onion shine through. We really wonder in, this question is like, is this where dim sum is headed? Is this where dim sum needs to be to kind of be in Pasadena to be have chandeliers and have a diverse crowd? Like, is this what it's? Oh, we bumped into a food media. Food media people. That we bumped into a food media people here. There's a lot of non-Asian people here. This food was truly elevated. We got gaitong here, chicken soup. Look at that. Chicken soup in a pot, in a teapot. Andrew, can you pour me up? A shot of chicken stock. Doing shots of chicken stock. Gaitong chicken soup. That's good. You have to just put your hand underneath like this. Moving on to our last dish of this section before we get to dessert, David, we have a Cantonese class. You can get this at many, many Cantonese restaurants. You have the beef chow fun here. AKA, gongchang ahol, gongchang niuhe, gongchang ahol. The haw fun or the chang fun is sliced much thinner. Almost looks like some type of noodles rather than the fat rice noodles that it usually is in. Super un-greasy. That was the fluffiest beef chow fun I've ever had in my entire life. Let this be her today. That was the fluffiest beef chow fun. David, round three here at Chef Tony Dim Sum, man. Dessert round. I think we gotta start with these bunnies. Coconut bunnies, these are the most jigglyest, cutest, coconut jelly bunnies. This is the most jigglyest, cutest, coconut bunnies I've ever seen, man. Look at this. Look at these bunnies. They're really cute and fluffy. Yo, David, does this just go to remind you how cute Cantonese love their dessert? Oh, my God. You just have to say that you're fine when you're not really fine, but you just can't get a dessert. All right, all right, all right. This is just eating it. Like we said, even the things that may not be super duper elevated, ace-wise, are elevated presentation-wise. You're getting one of the two, if not both. The flavor was not out of this world, but that presentation was really cute. Hey. Oh, Andrew, this is a favorite for the old traditional sponge cake right here. Ah, fuck. This should be like contest of who can withstand digging their fingers into a freshly steamed sponge cake. Fluffy. I can smell. I can smell like the brown sugar. That was really good. That was fire, bro. Dude, this is one of the best sponge cakes I've ever had. I don't even like sponge cake. I really don't. I never order it. Sweetness, the fluffiness, the sponginess, the moistness. Yo, hold up. Oh. What the? That was incredible. Look at the egg white tantats that are shaped like abalone. That's egg white? Yeah. Egg white. Egg white. You swear. So we've never had this dish. I've never had this dish. I've never had an egg white. Usually yellow on the inside because it's egg yolk. Still got the flavor, but yeah, I could see that it's egg white. That's interesting. Being the shape of an abalone versus a circle. Quality is there. Again, I cannot complain. For an egg white one, I was actually still really impressed. Oh, Andrew, durian buns. Oh my gosh. Got the funk. I'm ready. Durian pastry. Let me waft it out of there. I think that this is a great way to eat durian if you've never had it. It's a great way to try it. The most part, don't even want to deal with a durian pastry because they're like, oh, no one's going to order it. It's too stinky. Pull the durian right out. Wow. As we end off the food section, but kind of move into discussion section, we have this pan-fried ginger cake here. It almost looks like, dare I say, pork belly. Or something more like Vietnamese. It's like that individually wrapped ginger candy. Oh, mom and dad like it. It's super spicy. I think it would appeal to people who don't like chocolate because if you guys know, a lot of Asians actually do not like chocolate and it's true as piriform. Because it's just too, it's just too rich. I don't like chocolate and it's piriform blocks. Continuing our investigative series on the Cantonese-American cuisine and culture, but really Cantonese culture around the globe, Andrew, where does Chef Tony's fit? Because like we said, a lot of banquet halls, which are traditionally a place where dim sums served are closing down. Everything goes through changes. Andrew, can you stay a Pikachu forever? Or does Pikachu need to turn into Rai-chu? But you know, some people, Andrew, they want to stay a Pikachu. People are saying like, you know, because Pikachu was the cutest Pikachu, even though much less powerful and much lower-abended. That's a Pikachu, yeah. I think people, they latch onto a version of a Pokemon that they relate to and they want to freeze frame that forever. They want to stay Pikachu forever. Guess what, guys? Pikachu is great. You should enjoy Pikachu while it's here, but if Pikachu doesn't turn into Rai-chu, Pikachu is done. It's going to lose to every other evolved Pokemon. And the verdict is in. Overall, Chef Tony dim sum is worth the money. If you grew up eating dim sum, you know that the whole experience and menu was due for an update. And so many people in recent years tried to elevate dim sum, but it just came across as needlessly expensive. Call this fusion if you want, but I think it's just a step in the right direction and I applaud them for sticking a difficult landing. Even if your wallet has to pay a little bit more for it. Make sure you let us know in the comment section below what is one dim sum dish that needs an update. And number two, let us know another Cantonese food or anything that needs an update. Again, this was the Canso series. Until next time, we out. Peace. Oh, you got it. You know how to style yourself. It looks good. Yeah, okay.