DATE: Sunday, November 23, 1997             TAG: 9711190072

SECTION: FLAVOR                  PAGE: F1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BROWN H. CARPENTER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  108 lines

DINING ON DIM SUM ASIAN APPETIZERS BECOME THE MAIN EVENT ON WEEKENDS AT A VIRGINIA BEACH RESTAURANT

ON WEEKENDS Daniel Wu spends the lunch hour frantically wrapping dumplings and Asian-style crepes in the kitchen at the Golden China Restaurant near Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach.

The 36-year-old chef occasionally steals a glance at the crowd gathering near the restaurant entrance. Those seated are quickly emptying the carts stacked with platters of har gow, fun gor, shiu mai and other dim sum delicacies. The servers also need refills of beef omasum with black bean sauce, taro cake with sausage, shark's fin dumplings and turnip cake.

A hectic dim sum restaurant, or tea house, is about as authentically Chinese, culinarily speaking, as it gets. On Saturdays and Sundays, the Golden China, which offers a more familiar Oriental bill of fare at other times, stages a dining experience more commonly found in San Francisco or New York with their large populations from across the Pacific.

Indeed, a healthy portion of Hampton Roads' own Asian population can be found at the Golden China when the dim sum servers make their rounds. It's not a bad idea to arrive early, appetite in tow. The first carts leave the kitchen at 11:30 a.m. They stop at 2 p.m.

Those who frequent Chinese restaurants know that ``dim sum'' is usually on the menu, listed among the appetizers. The term usually means fried or steamed pork dumplings that the diner dips in a ginger-flavored dark sauce.

Multiply that simple hors d'oeuvre experience times 33 - the number of official varieties on the menu - and you have an idea of the weekend lunch at the Golden China: a cornucopia of Far Eastern adventures disguised as delectable, chopstick-manageable morsels.

Traditionally, the dim sum samples are wheeled through the dining room, the servers stopping at each table to allow patrons to look over the bite-sized fare kept warm in covered dishes. If a diner selects an offering or two (each covered dish usually contains three samples of a dim sum variety - ideal for sharing), the server marks a tab kept on the table.

Prices at the Golden China run from $1.90 to $3 per dish. Two average diners will probably stop the meter at $25 to $30.

In olden days, the check was tallied by counting the dishes left on the table. And there was no menu. Customers just pointed to what they wanted.

But in America, the menu allows novices a written description of what's being offered - a server whose English is iffy can point to the dim sum on the cart and also note it on the menu, where the food is described in English and Chinese. And the running tab ensures that the dishes are removed from the table, making room for another round.

One more thing: Those occupied on weekends may sample the Golden China's dumplings during lunch on weekdays by ordering directly from the menu. They're even available as takeout.

Although the menu features more than 30 dim sum varieties, Chef Wu, who learned his trade in Hong Kong, says the carts often contain non-menu items, such as sesame-vinegar-seasoned broccoli or watercress.

Wu says the favorites here are the deep-fried shrimp balls, shrimp and chicken spring rolls, shrimp dumplings and shrimp and pork dumplings. The pan-fried leek dumplings are also superb and not ordinarily found in local Chinese restaurants. Neither are stuffed eggplant with shrimp paste.

Four-treasure (differently prepared meats) sticky rice in lotus leaves is sweet and gooey. If you're feeling particularly daring, say yes when the server displays the chicken feet with black bean sauce or the duck foot stuffed with pork.

Dining on tasty snacks served from a cart is a Chinese custom that dates back to the 10th century, according to Yin-Fei Lo, a native of the Middle Kingdom and author of ``The Dim Sum Dumpling Book'' (Macmillan, $15). It seems to have originated in Canton. ``Many business deals are made over dim sum,'' she said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.

The Chinese descriptions usually refer to the type of dumpling. Har gow is bonnet-shaped and features a wheat starch wrapper; fun gor is half-moon shaped in a wheat starch wrapper; shiu mai uses egg-flour pasta and is bonnet-shaped.

Preparing dim sum requires special skills, says John Lee, the restaurant's manager, who patrols the dining room on weekends to ensure that non-Asian patrons understand what's in all those dumplings. Don't worry; it's mostly familiar fare like shrimp, pork, beef, chicken and Chinese vegetables, ground or minced to fit in the flattened dough.

``If you don't know how to put it together,'' he said, referring to the intricate wrapping and stuffing required to create a proper Chinese dumpling, ``then you don't know how to do dim sum.''

The Golden China features the dim sum of south China, mostly dumplings. In the north, diners are more likely to be served pancake-like concoctions.

To be authentic, dim sum should be eaten with chopsticks. In fact, etiquette dictates that each diner may take a dumpling or bun from the serving dish by reaching with his or her chopsticks. The non-dexterous should have no trouble just stabbing a dumpling, easily moving it from plate to dipping sauce to mouth.

Hot tea is the correct beverage and a refill is indicated by setting the teapot lid ajar.

Table condiments include mustard, soy sauce and chile sauce, but frequently the server will ladle the chef's own cooking concoction - usually a familiar soy-ginger or oyster sauce - right onto the dim sum.

To reduce any confusion, remember that all steamed dim sum travel on the same cart; so do the fried and baked delicacies. Ahh, there is also a dessert cart. Top off a lunch of dim sum with an egg custard or a deep-fried sesame seed ball. Perhaps a coconut gelatin cake or a baked pineapple bun.

But don't linger too much. The patrons near the door are eager for a table. The carts quit rolling at 2. ILLUSTRATION: TAMARA VONINSKI COLOR PHOTOS/The Virginian-Pilot

Elizabeth Cheng, 5...

Ching Luong...Chef Daniel Wu.

TAMARA VONINSKI/The Virginian-Pilot

Jean Eng picks from the cornucopia of dim sum at the Golden China

Restaurant.

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