Dim
Sum is quintessentially Chinese. That easy way of eating so popular at lunch
in Hong Kong (and these days all over the world), where a never ending array
of dishes is whisked past the diner’s tables and you point to the ones you
want. Like a moving Chinese buffet, in Hong Kong it is one of the noisiest
ways to eat. In the Peak restaurant, on top of the Dusit Resort, it is
thankfully quite the opposite! Quite frankly, the Peak offers its diners one
of the most stylish ways to enjoy lunch in Pattaya.
The Peak is on the 9th floor of the Dusit Resort (you take the lift to eight
and ascend the final floor by spiral staircase) and has a wonderful view
over all of Pattaya Bay. The restaurant is in a semi-circle with glass
around the perimeter, and the décor is in muted cream and beige, nothing
like the usual gaudy red and golds, laminex tables and paper lanterns of the
archetypal Chinese restaurant. Make no mistake, this is a luxurious upscale
restaurant, not a Chinese chow house!
The Dim Sum menu has around 30 “standard” items, with the vast majority in
the B. 70-85 bracket. These standard items include several steamed items
such as steamed dumplings with minced prawn filling, steamed minced prawn
with crabmeat sticks and steamed flat rice noodle with BBQ pork. There are
also deep-fried and pan-fried items, including one of my favorites, the
deep-fried mashed taro.
After
three pages of standard-style items, the Peak’s Dim Sum then offers a
“premium” selection, with most in the B. 135-195 range. These included such
items as steamed snow fish fillet with chilli sauce, steamed scallop and
broccoli with XO sauce, abalone mushroom stuffed with minced prawn, with
crab claw stuffed with minced prawn and yellow curry the most expensive at
B. 295.
Being the middle of the day, we stuck to Chinese tea (Madame) and soda water
for myself, and then settled in for a major eating splurge! And it was!
There are so many dishes, we could not try them all – but we tried! Truly,
we tried! The deep-fried mashed taro was magnificent. Dry and crispy and not
at all oily. The snow fish had been steamed with a dusting of chopped
chilli, and this was one item I could have ordered a second time – but there
were so many others I did not need to. The XO steamed scallop with asparagus
was another ‘more-ish’ item, though I squibbed at the chicken’s feet in
spicy brown sauce, though Madame said they were delicious. Wonderful lunch,
eaten with very classy black chopsticks, which unfortunately I had to leave
behind.
We did meet with the Peak’s head chef, Chi Tak Lai, a second generation
Chinese chef with 22 years of experience in Chinese kitchens, despite
looking so youthful. (Perhaps it is the Chinese food that has stopped him
aging?) Chef Chi assured us that the secret of his Dim Sum dishes was the
freshness of the ingredients, which he picks himself at the markets, and
each item is hand-made in his kitchen. By the way, if chicken’s feet make
you squeamish, he triple boils them before use! He is also a gold medal
winner from the recent Food and Beverage awards in Bangkok.
Dim Sum is a wonderful way of having lunch. You can eat as much, or as
little, as you want, and if you really want it, you can eat a la carte as
well, but I have no idea why you would bother. The Dim Sum variety offers
the diner a wider range of tastes and flavors, and don’t forget to try the
deep-fried mashed taro. Absolutely melt in the mouth.
Dim Sum at the Dusit’s Peak restaurant comes highly recommended from both
Madame and myself. And does not need to be an expensive lunch either if you
choose with an eye towards the purse.
The Peak, Dusit Resort Pattaya, 240/2 Pattaya Beach Road, North Pattaya
(opposite the Dolphin roundabout), telephone 038 425 611 ext 2276, fax 038
428 239, email [email protected]. Open every day for lunch 12 noon – 2 p.m.
(and dinner 6.30 p.m. – 10 p.m.) Secure parking within the hotel grounds.
