A while back I read an article about the difference on "eating out" and having a "dining experience". It basically relayed a message along the lines of when "eating out" you go to the restaurant, eat and move along with your life and when having a "dining experience" you take in the whole meal with all your senses, a dining experience would be one that you would learn from, cherish, and all those good things.
Well, the other day, we went to
this place for dim sum. It all started by our friends (and Norm) explaining to me what dim sum was... "oh! like Chinese tapas! got it. let's go there!" so we did... We walked into a large rectangular room that was intriguingly decorated in Asian decor - the "stage" had painted dragons as backdrops, there were chandeliers throughout the restaurant and the tables had those heavy duty vinyl covered table clothes are are made for easy wiping.
Two reasons I kept the snob inside of me, well, inside of me and decided to embrace eating there. One was the fact that the friends had been there before and had nothing but awesome comments about the food. Two was the fact that this Asian restaurant was full of Asian customers (I wouldn't eat in a Peruvian restaurant that wasn't good.... you get the point).
We sat down and quickly, Brazilian steakhouse style, servers started approaching our table offering little plates of food that was either fried or slimy. If they mentioned "pork" or "bacon" the plate was immediately off the server's cart and on our table.
I have no pictures because honestly the food wasn't pretty, but it sure was tasty.
After we stuffed our faces with pork, bread, slimy textures, fritters and various rice dishes, we walked out paying $60 for four adults.
Although the restaurant and the food is far from fancy, I consider eating at this place not only a dining experience but a cultural one too. I ate chicken feet.
